Mike on Crime

By James Turner
Winnipeg Free Press

A young Winnipeg woman has pleaded guilty to committing indecent acts involving children for the second time in under two months.

On Wednesday, Nikita L’Heureux, 21, was given what amounts to a 23-day sentence for a May 12 incident in the North End where she lifted her shirt and exposed her breasts to a passing motorist in plain view of a nine-year-old boy.

The boy’s mother was looking for him after he left a community drop-in centre on Anderson Avenue when she saw her son walking on Charles Street near where L’Heureux was standing. As a truck passed by, the woman lifted her shirt to flash someone in the vehicle.

The outraged mother called police with a complaint, and police made an arrest.

L’Heureux had previously pleaded guilty to the same charge on April 14, after an eerily similar scenario in March where she bared her breasts near an elementary school with kids nearby.

Court was told L’Heureux suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, causing her to act compulsively. Crown attorney Susan Helenchilde also said the woman comes from a difficult background troubled by addictions.

After her April conviction, L’Heureux was handed “a comprehensive” three-year supervision order meant to address her medical and psychological problems, which she breached 10 days later.

She remained in custody until May 6 when she was given a sentence of time served for violating the conditions of her release. She was released to the public, but committed the second indecent act only six days later.

“The Crown has serious concerns about what impact (L’Heureux’s crimes) will have on these children in the future,” Helenchilde said.

L’Heureux has repeatedly told police that she will continue to break the law and that there’s nothing they can do to stop her, court was told.

The Crown was seeking a sentence of 90 days, hoping to reinforce in L’Heureux that she has to take the law seriously and comply with her release conditions.

Defense lawyer Don Henderson said the woman should be treated as a vulnerable person by the court because of her condition and troubled background.

“There’s an element of outrage …but there has to be an understanding of who the offender is,” Henderson said, and asked the court for a sentence of time served plus strict release conditions stand as punishment.

A frenetic, nearly-panicked-stricken L’Heureux told provincial Court Judge Theodore Lismer that she was willing to make the necessary changes to stay out of trouble.

“I’m really sorry…this time I really mean it,” she said, breaking into sobs and holding her head. “I realize that I’m doing something wrong…people are sick of seeing me in here.”

L’Heureux is expected to be released Monday.