A man has pleaded guilty to sexual assault charges involving six Indigenous boys under the age of 18 in a Northern Manitoba community, the Canadian Press reports.
Arnold Collier, 54, admitted in a Winnipeg courtroom Sept. 28 to sexually assaulting the boys between 2017 and 2020. He also pleaded guilty to breaching court orders resulting from a previous conviction. He was convicted of sexual interference in 2018 and ordered not to have contact with children or the victim of that offence.
Collier will be sentenced in Thompson Dec. 1 and the Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer said they would submit a joint recommendation for 22 years in prison minus time already served.
There is a court ban on publishing information that could identify victims or witnesses so the location where the assaults occurred is not being reported.
The defendant, who is originally from New Brunswick, moved back and forth from his home province to the Northern Manitoba community where he worked as a mechanic.
The assaults came to light in the summer of 2020 when one of the boys he assaulted went to police. Others came forward and Collier was arrested.
Court heard that he would give the boys money, marijuana, beer and cigarettes and have them sleep over and that he would play pornographic videos for them. Collier would ask for sexual favours or perform sexual acts on them and some of them complied because they felt that if they didn’t he would stop giving them gifts. There was also testimony that sometimes Collier touched the boys while they were sleeping. Other witnesses testified that boys continued coming and going from Collier’s house after his 2018 conviction and that girls were not allowed at his house.
