Tossing bound woman into dumpster nets 18 years

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg man who tossed a bound, injured woman into a metal garbage bin on a cold winter night, fully expecting her to die, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Joey Audy, 36, previously pleaded guilty to attempted murder for the unprovoked attack in December 2023.

“The fact that (the victim) survived is by sheer luck,” provincial court Judge Rachel Rusen said Thursday. “Mr. Audy intended to kill (her).”

“This was a brutal attack on a vulnerable person,” she said. “Mr. Audy … demonstrated his complete disregard for human life.”

Audy, who has a long and violent criminal record, is the last of five people charged in the incident to be dealt with by the court.

According to an agreed statement of facts previously provided to court, the then-26-year-old victim was waiting for a bus at Sargent Avenue and Maryland Street at about 3:30 p.m. when a man she didn’t know approached her and said, “You’re coming with me,” before pulling her onto a departing bus.

He took the victim to a Manitoba Housing complex at 24 Carlton St. and led her to a suite where he said he would give her alcohol and she could use the Wi-Fi. In attendance were apartment residents Lorde Barrios and Misty Bird, as well as Audy, Romeo Miles and Evelyn McKay.

Audy and Miles were members of the same gang and had appeared uninvited, armed with a crowbar and knife for the purpose of “recruiting” Barrios.

The woman used the washroom after she entered the suite, during which time the man who took her there left. When she reappeared, Audy asked her who had taken her there and she mistakenly identified Barrios. When Barrios denied knowing the victim, Audy accused the victim of being a “narc” or a “rat.”

Audy told McKay to search the victim for “wires” and then had the woman place her backpack and jacket in the middle of the room before he punched her in the face, knocking her to the floor.

At Audy’s instruction, McKay and Bird bound the victim with duct tape before Audy shoved her under a bed.

Audy and Miles left the suite, telling Barrios they would return later to “collect” the victim.

Later, Barrios and Bird untied the victim and took her with them to play VLTs before returning to the apartment. Audy arrived and the group drank and used drugs at the apartment for the next three hours, during which time Audy said he was going to toss the victim in the dumpster and “light her up.”

Audy told McKay to tie up the victim again. McKay “hog-tied” her with zip ties. Duct tape was placed over her mouth.

Audy stomped on the woman’s head and she was blindfolded before Audy and McKay forced her into a hockey bag and zipped it up.

Audy and McKay took the woman to an elevator, as Audy played music on a portable speaker to “mute (the victim’s) screams.” Once outside, they dragged the bag to a dumpster and Audy threw it inside and closed the lid.

About half an hour later, Barrios went outside and heard the woman screaming. He opened the dumpster lid and told the woman he would be right back. He returned an hour later with Bird and the two took her out of the bag and removed her restraints.

She was taken back to the suite, where she was provided a shower, clothing and food. The next morning, Bird helped her board a bus for the Health Sciences Centre, where staff contacted police.

At a sentencing hearing last spring, the woman, who lives with pre-existing health and cognitive challenges, angrily confronted Audy.

“A man shouldn’t put hands on our women,” she said. “Real men don’t hit women…. Clearly you are not a real man, at all. You have left me fighting for my life every single day since you brutally beat me and attempted (to) murder me.

“I look at my face and see the scars on my bottom lip where you kicked me in the face…. How could you do this to an innocent person? You are a f—ing monster and you will always be one to me.”

Rusen sentenced Audy to 16 years for the attempted murder and an additional two years for an unrelated robbery five months earlier.

» Winnipeg Free Press