Man accused of assaulting unconscious woman has lengthy record of abuse

A convicted sex offender accused of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman last week — only to be stopped in the process by police officers — has a lengthy history of abusing vulnerable victims.

Harley Aaron Okemow, 34, was arrested Oct. 21 on Stanley Street, near Henry Avenue, and charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm.

He had been released from provincial jail in mid-September, with a sentence of two years of supervised probation plus the time he served behind bars awaiting court, after pleading guilty to several breaches of court orders committed earlier this year.

“Mr. Okemow … does have a serious record … that includes sexually offending against six different victims, five of which were children,” said Crown prosecutor Katie Dojack at Okemow’s sentencing last month.

As part of his probation order, he was to live at an apartment — arranged for by his support workers from a community program for people with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder — at a Manitoba Housing complex on Princess Street, just down the block from the location where he’s accused of his latest sex crime.

Winnipeg Police Service officers raced to Stanley Street after a member of the public called 911 when they spotted a suspect assaulting a woman shortly after 7 p.m. on Oct. 21.

Patrol officers found the suspect in the process of sexually assaulting the unconscious victim just after 7:10 p.m. Paramedics took the woman to hospital in stable condition and Okemow was arrested at the scene.

Law enforcement have described Okemow as someone who was under monitoring by the Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offenders Unit, a joint force of city police and RCMP.

Court records give further insight into his criminal history. Lawyers at sentencing hearings have repeatedly described his childhood and youth as “grim.”

At Okemow’s most recent sentencing in September, he pleaded guilty to breaching a prior probation order by failing to report to his probation officer in January, failing to attend court in May and two counts of breaching a bail order by consuming alcohol and failing to abide by a curfew in June.

Prosecutor Dojack and Okemow’s defence lawyer, Jeremy Horbul, jointly recommended he be given two years of probation, on top of the 59 days he served in jail since his arrest for the breaches earlier this year.

Dojack gave the judge an overview of Okemow’s lengthy and violent criminal record.

Okemow was first convicted of sex crimes in 2011, when he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference committed in February that same year against two children. That charge involved sexually touching a person under the age of 16.

While he was out on bail for those sex crimes, Dojack told court, he attacked and sexually assaulted a woman in March 2011.

“It, essentially, involved a violent rape of an adult female and chasing her and using other violence. Ultimately, he pled guilty for that,” Dojack told court.

“He said he couldn’t help himself and dragged her out of the residence … attacked her … he also indicated at a later date he essentially had no memory because of his level of intoxication.”

Okmeow was given six years of federal prison time for the sex assault in 2012 and ordered to register as a sex offender for 20 years. He did some programming for substance abuse and sex offender treatment while in prison.

He left prison on statutory release, but was sent back in 2016 when he was found in a home with children, said Dojack.

In October 2018, an intoxicated Okemow ran up to someone who he thought had attacked someone else and stabbed him in the neck. He got two years, less time served, in 2019.

In February 2021, while Okemow was out on bail, he got drunk and threatened to kill several people with a hammer, and in 2023, while wanted on a warrant, Okemow “ended up” in a house with a knife and threatened people, said Dojack.

His most recent sexual offence occurred in Thompson in September 2022.

He had some form of a relationship with the mother of a little girl who was having a sleepover with two friends. While drunk at the mother’s home, Okemow came into their bedroom in the middle of the night and sexually touched the three little girls. He was given 30 months in jail in 2024, plus two years of probation, for three counts of sexual interference.

Court heard Okemow had done reasonably well on probation since the Thompson sex crimes had connected to a community support program for those with FASD in Winnipeg, which continued to offer supports to him upon his release in September.

Provincial court Judge Jay Funke, who said everyone involved in the case wanted Okemow to stay out of trouble, told him last month that he hoped his risk to the community could be appropriately managed with the conditions of his new probation order.

erik.pindera@winnipegfreepress.com