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Victoria Comeau, 83, was beaten as she walked to Young\u2019s Trading on William Avenue.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Getty ran down the street and later ditched the walker, which contained the victim\u2019s purse and wallet.<\/p>\n
If the bystanders hadn\u2019t stopped to help, \u201cwe\u2019re not sure what would have happened,\u201d McComb told the judge.<\/p>\n
Comeau was hospitalized for three months. She was not eligible for a surgery owing to her frailty and is no longer able to walk independently, even in her own home, said McComb.<\/p>\n
Getty, who has a long history of hallucinations, meth-addiction-related mental health issues and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, entered his guilty plea after a months-long, court-ordered assessment of his mental fitness. He\u2019s been frequently hospitalized for his psychosis.<\/p>\n
He was ultimately found to understand his actions were wrong and was deemed well enough to stand trial in December.<\/p>\n
McComb said Getty must be given a penitentiary sentence of five years, noting his previous convictions for assaults with weapons \u2014 committed on his probation officer and a support worker at a youth centre \u2014 netted sentences that focused on his rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
Defence lawyer Mike Cook argued that Getty should serve two years less a day in Headingley jail, where he\u2019s currently in a unit for inmates who have complex mental-health, cognitive or physical issues.<\/p>\n
The judge will issue her decision at a later date.<\/p>\n
At the time of the attack, Getty was on bail and going through mental health court for one of the previous assaults, but was booted from the program and was sentenced in regular provincial court last year.<\/p>\n
Comeau\u2019s son, Joseph Fourre, spoke out after the attack, to demand beefed-up safety in the area. He also questioned bail legislation.<\/p>\n
Days after the assault, Winnipeg Police Service officers, who used surveillance footage to identify Getty, arrested him at the Ross Ellen Housing Complex, near the scene of the attack. The complex has 24\/7 supportive housing for people with mental health and addictions issues.<\/p>\n
During his interview, Getty told officers spiders were inside him, McComb said.<\/p>\n
He also took off his clothes and told them OJ Simpson, the former professional football player acquitted of his wife\u2019s slaying, was trying to eat him alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis individual (had) all the support and resources and assistance that anyone in his situation could want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cook argued Getty should remain in the mental health unit in Headingley, where he\u2019s been taking a powerful anti-psychotic, and then get set up with supports to succeed when he\u2019s released, as opposed to being sent to Stony Mountain prison.<\/p>\n
Judge Bright seemed to question Cook\u2019s argument, noting that Getty was living in an intensive supportive housing complex at the time of the attack.<\/p>\n
McComb, too, highlighted his living situation at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis individual (had) all the support and resources and assistance that anyone in his situation could want, and this is how he conducted himself,\u201d McComb said during the hearing.<\/p>\n
Getty offered no real explanation or remorse to police last year, or to a probation officer who interviewed him for a pre-sentence report this year, said McComb.<\/p>\n
He denied \u201cbrutally beating\u201d or assaulting anyone, telling police last year that it\u2019s not a crime to shove someone to the ground who was irritating him, McComb said.<\/p>\n
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Cook said a worker at the Ross Ellen complex had been assaulted by someone on the street and Getty saw the victim from his window and thought she was somehow involved, which caused him to attack her.<\/p>\n
McComb said Getty\u2019s remarks about the assault to the probation officer in February were \u201cquite astounding for how callous they are.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said he didn\u2019t care what happened to the victim, and that if she was badly hurt, it was only because she was elderly. He blamed his schizophrenia and meth use for the crime.<\/p>\n
McComb said Getty had been receiving treatment for his addictions and mental health for nearly a year by the time he made those comments.<\/p>\n
Cook said Getty told him he felt bad about injuring the elderly woman.<\/p>\n
Getty\u2019s life was a \u201cstory of tragedy,\u201d Cook told the judge.<\/p>\n
He was born to a drug-addicted, 14-year-old mother, became a child-welfare ward and was mostly homeless until he got into the Ross Ellen complex. He has a long history of intertwined drug abuse and mental illness.<\/p>\n
Getty later apologized to the court, saying he would stay off drugs and never assault anyone again.<\/p>\n
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Erik Pindera Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.\u00a0 Read more about Erik<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Erik produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Reporter
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