Winnipeg sex offender who flew under family’s radar by changing name gets 15 years for child abuse

WARNING: This article contains details of child sexual abuse.

A convicted sex offender who sexually abused a 13-year-old boy whose family did not know about the man’s criminal past because he changed his name has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Ryan James Knight pleaded guilty in July to sexual interference and sexual abuse and exploitation of children from August 2024 to March 2025.

The court heard on Wednesday that the boy’s family had hired Knight, who was in his early 40s at the time, to renovate their basement. Knight then hired the child to do odd jobs around his own home on the street where the repeated abuse occurred.

A few years earlier, Knight changed his last name from Gabourie. That meant that when the boy’s family tried to look into Ritter, they didn’t find that he had been convicted about two decades earlier of breaking into children’s homes and sexually assaulting them while their families slept.

“They were duped,” Provincial Court Judge Kael McKenzie said as he handed down Ritter’s sentence, following a joint recommendation from lawyers.

“It’s not just one person that you hurt. It’s over and over and over, and for a long time… You just leave a trail of trauma behind you, and for decades now.”

The abuse came to light after Knight was driving with the boy in a truck after midnight in March 2025, and ended up being pulled over by police. When officers found that Knight had no familial relationship with the boy, they began an investigation that eventually revealed that Knight had repeatedly sexually abused the child.

The boy, who cannot be identified because of a publication ban, told police Knight would take him to the movies and let him sleep over at his house, and that he sometimes lent the boy a cell phone and let him play on his computer, an agreed statement of facts read by Crown attorney Katie Dojack.

Investigators later seized electronics from Knight, which revealed child sexual abuse images of the boy. This led to the police notifying the boy’s parents that he had been sexually assaulted and asking to speak to him. The boy agreed but asked that his parents not get his video statement to watch.

The boy told police he initially did not disclose anything to Child and Family Services when they were involved because he did not trust them and was “worried they would tell his father,” the agreed facts said.

“He told the police that he was embarrassed to talk about the accused and that the accused had warned him not to tell anyone.”

During the investigation, the boy also told police that Knight had another boy “hanging out with him.” The child was later confirmed to be 14.

The boy’s mother told police she had known Knight for nine years, and her son sometimes slept over at his home. However, she cut off contact when her family members raised concerns and she noticed the boy was “behaving differently”.

While police initially said Knight was charged with sexually abused two teenagersCourt records show other charges against him were stayed.

Light in the boy’s eyes ‘replaced by anger’

The father of the boy, whose son Knight was convicted of abuse, said the boy, “who once openly showed his love for his family, has changed.”

“Since what happened to him, he often expressed anger towards us, and the light in his eyes seemed to be replaced by anger,” the father wrote in a victim impact statement that Dojack read.

“We hope he gets that spark back, but we don’t know if he will.”

He said that while he looked up Knight’s name online before hiring him, he only found one complaint about a job he did.

“I believe his name change prevented this story from being discovered,” the father said.

The boy’s grandmother said she saw how her grandson changed from “a happy child to a very angry and sullen child.”

“I saw the glitter in his eyes disappear,” she wrote in her victim impact statement. “He didn’t believe we could help him because Ryan had convinced him that his family didn’t care about him and wouldn’t believe him.”

Prosecutor Dojack said sexual victimization for boys can be particularly harmful “because of social expectations that males should look tough.”

“Embarrassment, humiliation and homophobia form a particularly toxic and stigmatizing combination for male child victims,” ​​she said. “I think that’s certainly something to consider here.”

Ritter’s lawyer, Theodore Mariash, told the court that his client’s childhood was also marked by “terrible abuse”.

When given the chance to speak for himself, Knight apologized for the harm he caused to the people sitting in the courtroom and for taking away their right to know about his past.

“I can’t even imagine what it’s like to learn who you’re sitting at the table with,” he said from the prisoner’s box. “And I’m really sorry for that. Nobody deserved anything I did.”

The court heard Knight had just over 13 years left on his sentence, with enhanced credit for time served. He is also subject to a list of conditions, including not contacting any of the children mentioned in the agreed facts.

If you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can refer to crisis lines and local services at End Sexual Violence Association of Canada database. in the