Accused says he attacked john because man had touched girls

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This article was published 22/06/2017 (3300 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the second time in less than two months, a john who used backpage.com to hire a prostitute has been robbed.

The accused, however, maintains that he attacked the man because he had been touching young girls.

“There was obviously some sexual exploitation or something of that nature going on,” defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens said during a bail hearing on Monday.

Crown attorney Grant Hughes told court that on the afternoon of June 6, police responded to a call of a 47-year-old man who had been assaulted and robbed at the Redwood Motor Inn.

Hughes said police learned that the man had contacted an escort online at backpage.com and arranged to meet her at a motel room.

Once the would-be john was in the room, there was a knock at the door, and a man and female entered. The victim was attacked and knocked out.

He awoke to find himself lying on the floor, covered in blood. His wallet and keys were missing, as was the pickup truck the keys belonged to.

The victim was taken to hospital with a broken orbital bone, a fractured jaw and a large cut to his upper lip.

Police found the stolen truck the next day on the 800 block of Louise Avenue East. They watched the truck and saw two males get in and drive off.

Officers, their guns drawn, then pulled over the truck and arrested the two occupants. The driver was arrested for possession of stolen property and in connection with the robbery.

Hughes said that at the time, the driver was on a probation order directing him to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

The 24-year-old man who was arrested is charged with aggravated assault, robbery and theft of a vehicle.

The above allegations haven’t been proven in court and he’s presumed innocent.

Janssens said the man had gone to the Redwood inn to visit his younger sister and witnessed sexual exploitation or something of that nature happening.

He maintains that the victim threw the first punch and a fight ensued.

This robbery, however, has a connection to a prior robbery of another john who used backpage.com.

The man arrested in this case is also brother to a woman charged in connection with a May 6 incident in which a man was allegedly robbed by men armed with machetes, tied up and injected with drugs.

In that case, it’s alleged that the victim had contacted an escort on backpage.com, was picked up and taken to a city apartment.

He was then jumped and dragged into the apartment by two men armed with machetes.

During his ordeal, the offenders tied him up, used various means including threats to get money out of his bank account, and injected him with methamphetamine.

Following one trip to the bank, he was separated from his captors and got away.

Police arrested a woman a couple of weeks later, and another 27-year-old man was arrested after police issued a public bulletin asking for help finding him.

The man charged for the Redwood inn incident, the sister he was meeting at the motel, and the second sister charged in connection with the May incident are the children of a woman who was murdered several years ago.

The Brandon Sun isn’t identifying the accused at this time due to their troubled backgrounds, and the possible links between the two cases and the sex trade.

In yet another example, in September 2014, another man was robbed when he used backpage.com to hire a woman to perform a sex act.

He attended an apartment where he was attacked by men, taken to an ATM and forced to withdraw $1,000 cash. Two men ultimately received jail sentences for that case, while a woman received probation.

» ihitchen@brandonsun.com