November 13, 2024

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Law can do.

Previous Winnipeg hockey mentor billed with sexual assault of 2 teenagers in 1990s

A former Winnipeg hockey coach and current lawyer has been charged with sexual assault and kid pornography offences just after two people today came ahead to report he assaulted them in their early teens while he was their mentor practically 30 yrs in the past, Winnipeg law enforcement say.

Robert “Bob” Donald Joseph Dawson, 57, was arrested at a home on Lake Park Drive in southeast Winnipeg on Wednesday, Winnipeg Law enforcement Assistance spokesperson Const. Dani McKinnon claimed at a information convention Thursday.

McKinnon stated the survivors arrived forward independently in June to report the alleged assaults they say transpired in between 1993 and 1995 though they have been gamers in the Assiniboine Park Hockey Affiliation.

Law enforcement claimed they will not consider Dawson is coaching any longer.

Hockey Winnipeg reported it would not have particulars about how lengthy Dawson was included with the firm or what roles he served in although there, considering that his involvement pre-dates its databases process.

In an emailed statement, Hockey Winnipeg govt director Ian McArton called the prices in opposition to Dawson “particularly severe and pretty troubling” and stated the business is “hopeful that justice is served in this scenario.”

McArton stated no current team or executives at Hockey Winnipeg or board users of the Assiniboine Park Hockey Affiliation have any interaction with Dawson.

The board said in a statement that the hockey group Dawson volunteered for was unaware of the allegations until finally a short while ago and it is now in get in touch with with and supporting the victims.

The group executed new policies decades in the past to enable protect gamers, coaches, dad and mom and volunteers, the board claimed.

“We believe that currently that the group gives a safe environment for all and we stay fully commited to providing that relocating ahead.”

Dawson is a practising attorney, Law Culture of Manitoba CEO Leah Kosokowsky said in an email, incorporating that the modern society has been performing with law enforcement and Manitoba’s prosecution service to make sure his clients’ rights are secured.

None of the allegations from Dawson have been proven in court.

Other survivors urged to get to out

The previous gamers who claimed the assaults stated they ended up independently invited to Dawson’s house, where by he gave them funds and liquor and sexually assaulted them, McKinnon explained.

They also instructed police the sexual assaults, which McKinnon described as “an ongoing state of affairs,” experienced been photographed and videotaped.

McKinnon mentioned it truly is “amazing” for sexual assault survivors to appear ahead so lots of decades later and urged any other possible survivors to get in touch with police.

“I cannot communicate to why the victims arrived ahead at this time. These kind of cases are incredibly delicate. They are very nuanced. They are very private and personal. And I think just the truth that they did arrive ahead when they did is very extraordinary,” McKinnon mentioned.

The investigation is continuing, she said.

Watch | Police spokesperson on decades-previous sexual assault reviews:

Victims coming forward decades later on ‘remarkable’

Const. Dani McKinnon responds to a problem about why the people came ahead now. :27

Look for warrant

Investigators also executed a look for warrant at the residence where they arrested Dawson, though McKinnon explained it was nevertheless much too early for police to report everything connected to that lookup. She also couldn’t say irrespective of whether any images or online video of the assaults had been distributed online.

“We are nonetheless in the incredibly early stages of the investigation, the collection and the documenting. Which is a very intricate process,” she reported.

Simply because Dawson practised law out of his residence, a lawyer independent from him, law enforcement and the Crown was appointed to make certain none of the products seized by way of the research warrant violate his clients’ legal rights, Kosokowsky claimed.

That particular person, known as an “independent referee,” will then sift by elements law enforcement want to seize and only give them the products not shielded by solicitor and consumer privilege, she reported.

Winnipeg law enforcement spokesperson Const. Dani McKinnon states although investigators executed a research warrant in connection with the situation, it truly is too early to supply any updates on that look for. (Jaison Empson/CBC)

Kosokowsky said due to the fact Dawson is a sole practitioner, the law culture is monitoring his scenario and will acquire methods to safeguard his clients’ pursuits exactly where necessary.

Dawson continues to be in custody, McKinnon said. He was billed with one particular rely of possessing baby pornography and two counts of producing, printing, publishing or possessing for the goal of publication child pornography.

He was also charged with two counts each and every of sexual interference, sexual exploitation, sexual assault and forcible confinement.

McKinnon claimed anybody who has data or wants to discuss to investigators is requested to contact the intercourse crimes unit at 204-986-6245 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477.