{"id":592982,"date":"2026-04-09T18:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592982\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T18:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:03:10","slug":"wyatt-says-hes-innocent-after-being-charged-with-sex-assault-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/592982\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyatt says he\u2019s innocent after being charged with sex assault \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

A city councillor facing a sexual assault charge has declared his innocence and vows to continue doing his job.<\/p>\n

Coun. Russ Wyatt arrived to chair the East Kildonan-Transcona community committee meeting on Thursday morning and told reporters he will continue to fulfil his council tasks.<\/p>\n

The Transcona councillor was arrested and charged in March with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance. It\u2019s alleged that during a gathering in December in the east area of the city, the victim was sexually assaulted after being given an illicit drug.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MIKE
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n

Coun. Russ Wyatt (Transcona) was arrested and charged in March with sexual assault and administering a noxious substance.<\/p>\n

Wyatt said Thursday he is innocent of the charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to continue to do my job, as serving the people, as I always have and I always will\u2026,\u201d Wyatt said. \u201cPublic service is something that I\u2019ve been called to, and I feel very passionately about it. And when I do it, it makes me feel good and I love my community.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m going to continue to do the job that I was elected to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Scott Gillingham has called Wyatt\u2019s presence at city hall a \u201cdistraction\u201d and some councillors have urged Wyatt to step away from politics to deal with the criminal allegations. However, the City of Winnipeg charter allows city councillors to work while they undergo criminal proceedings.<\/p>\n

The charter dictates that a member of council forfeits their seat if they\u2019re convicted of a serious criminal offence.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Wyatt declined to answer most questions about the criminal charges or being urged to step back from his council role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t discuss that. I\u2019m here to continue to do my job, and the matter is before the courts\u2026,\u201d he said. \u201cRight now, I\u2019m presumed innocent under the law, and I\u2019m going to continue to do my job as I always have and I always will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Sign<\/p>\n

The allegations against Wyatt have not been tested in court.<\/p>\n

While councillors have the power to hold a vote to remove a colleague from serving on city council\u2019s standing policy committees, that option has not taken place.<\/p>\n

Wyatt also attended the city council meeting held two days after his arrest.<\/p>\n

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n

X: @joyanne_pursaga<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Joyanne<\/p>\n

Joyanne Pursaga
Reporter
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Joyanne is city hall reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. A reporter since 2004, she began covering politics exclusively in 2012, writing on city hall and the Manitoba Legislature for the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in early 2020. Read more about Joyanne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Every piece of reporting Joyanne 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

Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A city councillor facing a sexual assault charge has declared his innocence and vows to continue doing his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-592982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}