SASKATOON — Police are searching for Donovan Lee Assiniboine, 30, who, according to parole documents, is a known street gang member and once terrorized children during a series of violent home invasions.
Saskatchewan Crime Stoppers released his photo saying he is wanted for being unlawfully at large.
Parole documents reveal that Assiniboine was on statutory release after serving an almost 10-year prison sentence for a long list of violent and property-related offences, including break and enters, robbery, assault causing bodily harm, and multiple counts of escaping or being unlawfully at large. Courts also imposed a weapons ban and ordered a DNA sample.
Home invasions where children threatened
According to parole documents, Assiniboine’s escalating violence started in 2014.
In November 2014, he broke into a home through a basement window and stole property, including a laptop and jewellery.
Two weeks later, on Dec. 7, 2014, he carried out a spree of residential break-ins. He stole an axe during the first break-in and used it to smash windows in the following break-ins. In several homes, residents were inside at the time, where they were threatened with the axe and robbed.
The most violent incident occurred on Dec. 20, 2014, when a youth answered the door of a home that Assiniboine and an accomplice targeted. Parole documents say the pair forced their way inside, fought with adults, held a knife to another child’s throat, and threatened to burn a third child to force compliance from the adults. They fled when they heard police sirens.
A sentencing judge later mentioned the aggravating factors, including the occupied homes, the use of weapons, the psychological harm to victims – especially to the children – the planning involved, and Assiniboine’s leadership role.
Violence continued in prison
Assinboine’s record of violence continued while incarcerated. On Sept. 8, 2020, he was one of eight inmates involved in a group assault inside a maximum-security prison. Parole documents say he kicked and stomped the inmate. He received a 16-month sentence, time served, for aggravated assault.
Background of trauma, substance abuse
Parole documents describe a childhood marked by instability. He was sexually abused at age six by an extended family member. He was placed in 12 foster homes in 11 years, where he said he was physically and emotionally abused. He was returned to his mother at the age of 11.
His substance abuse started early and escalated to daily consumption of alcohol and methamphetamine.
Parole documents say he has been identified as a “ringleader,” often influencing younger people.
The use of violence is "normal" to Assiniboine, according to parole documents.
"As you were exposed to substance abuse and criminal activity from an early age, these behaviours were normalized to you. You have often used force to ensure you obtain what you want."
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
