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A man who admitted to beating an elderly Winnipeg woman so badly she can no longer walk on her own has been sentenced to five years in prison.
The offender showed a “concerning degree of callousness and lack of remorse” for the random daytime attack in February 2025, provincial court Judge Michelle Bright said.
Victoria Comeau, who was 83 at the time, was on William Avenue on her way to buy milk near her home in the city’s Centennial neighbourhood when she was brutally assaulted, her son previously told reporters.
Justin Getty, now 28, later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. Court heard he had punched Comeau from behind and pushed her to the ground before kicking and swearing at her. Getty then lifted her walker above his head and was about to bring it down on top of her when he was stopped by bystanders.
He later returned to the supported housing facility for people with mental health issues where he lived, telling a worker there he’d “assaulted an old lady and stomped on her,” court heard Wednesday.
Comeau spent three months in hospital with pelvic fractures, and was deemed unsuitable for surgery because of her age and frailty. She now requires caregivers, home care and escorts to leave home, and needs help walking even in her own home, court heard.
“Her son described what has effectively been a complete loss of her independence,” Bright read from her decision Wednesday.
“Before the incident, she said that she felt like she knew people on the street and was never scared to be out on her own. Now, she feels terrified to leave the confines of her own home.”
During a police interview, Getty “engaged in behaviour that suggested he was experiencing a mental health episode,” Bright said, including taking off his clothes, and telling police there were spiders in his body and that he thought he “was being eaten alive by O.J. Simpson.”
His lawyer previously argued Getty was protective of the facility where he lived because a staff member there had been attacked by a homeless person, and that he’d approached Comeau because he believed she was involved in that assault.
In court on Wednesday, Getty was brought by a sheriff’s officer into the prisoner’s box, where he sat with his mouth hanging open, with dark curly hair covering his eyes, as the judge read her decision.
Court heard Getty has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and stimulant use disorder, and had a “very difficult upbringing” that involved being apprehended by child welfare authorities at age five because of his mother’s substance abuse issues.
He also has a criminal record that includes previous violent offences, and previously apologized for assaulting Comeau when given the chance to speak during sentencing submissions.
‘Extreme concern’ about reoffending risk
While Bright said she found there was a link between Getty’s mental illness and his offending, she raised concerns about comments he’s made about the attack, including when he told a pre-sentence report writer one month before sentencing submissions that he didn’t care about what had happened to Comeau.
Bright said that attitude caused her “extreme concern about his future risk to reoffend,” which she said is also affected by his ongoing substance use — something that has historically made his mental health issues worse.
The judge said Getty’s explanation for why he’s now ready to seek drug treatment — because “looks matter” and he doesn’t want to appear “methed out” — also gave her “little confidence he’s prepared to address this issue in a serious way.”
“This was a random, brazen and unprovoked attack in the middle of the day on a person who was doing nothing more than walking down the sidewalk. The victim’s age and the fact that she was using a walker made her exceptionally vulnerable, and that vulnerability would have been obvious to anyone who saw her,” Bright said.
“This is not a situation where one can opine that if the accused had certain supports in place, his risk to the public might be reduced. The accused committed an extremely violent offence that demonstrates an escalation in his offending behaviour, in spite of the fact that he was receiving wraparound supports.”
As a result, she said she considered the five-year sentence prosecutors asked for “lenient.” Getty will get about a year and four months of enhanced credit for time he’s already served, court heard.