Man sentenced to 3 years for sexually assaulting woman he picked up on highway, assaulting teenage girl

WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced​ ​​​sexual violence or who know someone affected by it. 

A man who sexually assaulted a woman he picked up on the side of the road in northern Manitoba last year and assaulted a teenage girl years earlier, in what a prosecutor called "egregious" offences, has been sentenced to three years in prison, minus the time he's already served.

As a result, there was just over a year left in the sentence Armand Thrones was handed in August, after he pleaded guilty to both counts, which were related to two separate crimes in 2023 and 2019. Both victims' identities are protected by a publication ban.

The 2023 sexual assault involved a 24-year-old woman who Thrones, then 34, picked up on the highway near The Pas on his way to a cabin, where he sexually assaulted her.

"From the Crown's perspective, your honour, [Thrones is] far from a Good Samaritan. In fact, he admits to his behaviour, although perhaps his insight is not very good," Crown attorney Guillaume Dragon said during sentencing arguments in July, calling Thrones's suggestion he thought the woman consented "likely not consistent with the facts of this case."

Court heard the woman had gotten out of a vehicle following an argument with her mother, but realized she had no cell service to call her to come back.

The woman reluctantly decided to trust Thrones when he offered her a ride, because she felt she didn't have much choice, but "ultimately was very wrong about his intentions," Dragon said.

The woman said she consumed alcohol and cocaine with Thrones at the cabin, where she said she then woke up at one point with Thrones on top of her.

She later told police "that she was terrified, that she was frozen, and that she felt given the circumstances that going along with Mr. Thrones would be the safest option for her," the prosecutor said.

The woman was later able to call for help using Thrones's phone.

Court also heard a victim impact statement from the woman's father, who said his daughter now suffers from nightmares and anxiety.

Court records show other charges initially laid, including forcible confinement, uttering threats and assault while choking, suffocating or strangling, were stayed.

The other incident Thrones pleaded guilty to happened in 2019, when a teenage girl who was babysitting at his home while Thrones and his partner were out said she was asleep in the basement when the couple returned home and awoke to Thrones touching her thigh.

"It's alleged he said, 'I just wanted to see how you felt,'" Dragon said, adding the girl, who has since died, told Thrones to stop before he went upstairs and later said she believed Thrones had been drinking.