Lawyers in a Winnipeg court argued Wednesday about an appropriate sentence for a man who admitted to beating an elderly woman so badly she can’t walk on her own anymore.
Victoria Comeau, 83, was randomly attacked as she was walking on William Avenue to buy milk near her home in the Centennial neighbourhood in February 2025, her son Joseph Fourre previously told reporters.
Justin Getty, 28, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in January.
Court heard Getty punched Comeau from behind until she fell to the ground. He started to kick her in the hip as he swore at her and tried to assault her with her own walker before bystanders intervened, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Getty then ran to the nearby supported housing facility where he was staying, telling a worker there that he’d assaulted “an old woman and stomped on her,” prosecutor Terry McComb told Manitoba provincial court Judge Michelle Bright in court Wednesday.
The woman’s pelvic bone was fractured in multiple places during the attack, and she was later deemed unfit for surgery because of her age and frailty, court heard.
“She’s terrified of going out alone,” McComb said. “She needs caregivers, escorts and home care, and she’s unable to walk independently, even in her residence.”
Getty showed signs of “obvious mental health issues” during a police interview after his arrest in March 2025, McComb said. Getty denied being involved in the attack, didn’t show “remorse or shock” and mentioned spiders crawling “all over his body,” McComb said.
“They were in my body,” Getty, who appeared at the hearing by video conference from Headingley Correctional Centre, interrupted.
The prosecutor said Getty has a “tragic background.” He grew up primarily in foster care, has a “long-standing history” with both drug use and mental health issues, as well as a “significant history of psychosis.”
‘I honestly don’t care’
A pre-sentence report found Getty is at a high risk to re-offend because of his “drug use, pro-criminal attitude and orientation, anti-social pattern, as well as companions,” McComb said.
The 28-year-old was interviewed about the attack two weeks ago as part of the pre-sentence report, during which he said, “I don’t care what happened. I don’t care. I honestly don’t care,” McComb said.
Getty mentioned being “frequently treated poorly by people,” but no arrests were made in those instances, McComb said.
Getty lacks empathy and knew attacking the woman was wrong, the Crown attorney argued.
“These comments are callous. It shows a lack of remorse, and further, what he’s saying is, he’s justifying his conduct, and he’s actually referring to himself as being a victim,” she said.
McComb asked the judge for a five-year sentence.
Getty’s defence lawyer, Mike Cook, called McComb’s request “a crushing sentence,” asking the judge for a 24-month sentence on top of time served.
Cook described the attack as “a story about tragedy in the streets of Winnipeg” that left an innocent woman seriously injured, but also described Getty as “very vulnerable.”
‘Physically protective’ of facility
Getty was “physically protective” of the supported living facility where he was living at the time of the attack because a staff member was previously attacked by a homeless person, Cook said. Cook argued Getty approached Comeau because he believed she was involved in the assault.
Cook said Getty knows the world looks at him as someone who uses drugs and is schizophrenic but doesn’t want to be seen that way anymore. Getty began to take a new antipsychotic drug while in prison and “feels much more calm,” Cook said.
“He’s kind of turned the corner,” but needs stability, the defence lawyer said.
The judge took issue with Cook’s argument.
“I’m just having a little bit of difficulty with the argument that with the appropriate supports … he’ll do well, or his risk will be reduced and he won’t reoffend,” Bright said.
“It seemed like everything was in place at the time that this happened.”
Cook said the judge raised a legitimate concern.
But, he said, “Do we just lock people up for years and years and years? I don’t think that’s the approach.”
‘I’m very, very, very sorry’
Cook read a letter written by Getty that said the attack on Comeau was unnecessary, that he promises not to assault anyone again, and that he hopes to be released because of the positive effect his antipsychotic medication has had on him.
At the end of the hearing, Getty again shared his remorse when Bright asked if he had anything to say.
“I just wanted to say that I’m very, very, very sorry for assaulting that woman,” he said. “I want to stay off drugs.”
Bright reserved her decision until a later date.