An 82-year-old Winnipeg man says his life and his wife’s life have been “flipped upside down” after they were assaulted and stabbed by a stranger inside their Garden City home last summer.
“Before this incident our doors would remain unlocked,” the man wrote in a victim impact statement provided to court Tuesday at a sentencing hearing for Ryan Chase George.
“We live in a safe community — or so we thought,” said the man, who was rushed to hospital with a stab wound to his neck following the Sept. 15 attack. “Now we don’t feel safe within our own home.
“Whenever we are outside, we are constantly looking over our shoulders. Any small noise keeps us on our toes.”
George, 24, has pleaded guilty to one count of house break and enter and commit aggravated assault. The Crown is recommending he serve seven years in prison, the defence countering with five years.
George has a prior criminal record, including two convictions for assaulting police officers, nine convictions for weapons offences and one conviction for breaching court orders.
George had been out of custody less than a month at the time of the Garden City attack.
Court heard he had consumed alcohol and Xanax pills and was “significantly intoxicated” when he entered the couple’s home through an unlocked door and proceeded downstairs to a granny suite, where he stole a knife.
George made his way back upstairs and found the male victim and his 74-year-old wife sitting in the living room.
George approached the woman from behind and punched her in the head and arm before grabbing the man by the hair and stabbing him in the neck, narrowly missing his carotid artery.
The attack was interrupted by the couple’s arriving son and George fled the house. Police arrested him a short distance away minutes later.
The male victim was admitted to Health Sciences Centre and released the following day.
The man said in his victim impact statement he continues to suffer pain in his neck and his wife lives with constant headaches.
George read out an apology to the victims, who were not present in court. He said he was so intoxicated he had no memory of attacking the couple. George “felt shock and instant regret” when his lawyer told him what he had been accused of doing, he said.
“What I did was wrong and reckless and I had no intention to hurt this family,” he said. “They didn’t deserve the trauma that I caused.”
According to a pre-sentence report prepared for court, George’s teen and later years were marked by family tragedy, substance abuse, periods of homelessness and gang involvement.
Provincial court Judge Victoria Cornick will sentence George on June 22.
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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