A sex offender with a history of crimes dating back more than 40 years, including abducting a young girl from her bed when he was a teen, is expected to live in Winnipeg after being released from custody.
Marinus Willemse, 59, was set to be released this week after serving time in British Columbia, the Manitoba Integrated High Risk Sex Offender Unit said in a Winnipeg police news release Friday.
He is considered a high risk to reoffend against women and children, the release said.
Willemse was convicted of breaking and entering and using a firearm in October 1984, when he was 17, after an incident that happened in Sarnia, Ont., that August. Willemse is from that area.
He broke into a home late at night, took a four-year-old girl from her bed, covered her mouth and carried her out of the house, the Winnipeg Police Service said in a past news release. Willemse was arrested nearby, police said in a 2022 news release about him being released from prison at that time.
In 1986, he was sentenced for trying to lure a group of six children by offering them money to rake leaves, police said in Friday’s release.
In 1988, less than two months after he was released, Willemse sexually assaulted and robbed a female store clerk, the release said. When a customer entered the store, the clerk escaped, and Willemse forced the customer to drive him to an area where he sexually assaulted and robbed her, police said.
The Kingston Whig-Standard said in a 1999 article that the 1988 incident started at a doughnut store in Sarnia, Ont. Willemse was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 1989.
Willemse moved back to the Sarnia area after being released from the since-closed Kingston Penitentiary in October 1999. He was ordered to undergo a psychiatric assessment, The Canadian Press later reported, and was released days later after agreeing to a peace bond requiring him to stay away from children.
A public outcry forced Willemse to return to Kingston, the Canadian Press article said.
He had planned to live with his older brother in Tecumseh, Ont., after his 1999 release, but Marinus Willemse was no longer welcome at the home amid public hostility, telephone threats and the brother’s kids being harassed at school, a Windsor Star article said.
“I believe myself to be a good person,” Marinus Willemse told the Windsor Star not long before he was arrested again.
In November 1999, he tried to lure two girls, ages six and 10, from a playground by asking for help finding his wallet, Friday’s release said. He led the girls behind a garage and exposed himself, police said.
That same day, he forced his way into a vehicle leaving a shopping mall, the release said. A mother and her daughter, 8, were in the vehicle.
Willemse held a knife to the girl’s head and threatened to kill her if the mother did not co-operate, the release said. Both victims managed to escape.
Three days later, Willemse tied up a female clerk while robbing a video store and threatened to shoot her, police said.
The release did not say where those three crimes happened, but the 1999 Whig-Standard article said they occurred in Kingston.
Willemse was released from Stony Mountain Institution, north of Winnipeg, in February 2022, after serving a 20-year sentence. His convictions included abducting a child under 14, using a firearm during commission of an offence, assault with a weapon and two counts of forcible confinement.
He served an additional four months for threatening his parole officer, police said.
Winnipeg police advised the public in 2022 when Willemse was set to be released then, saying he was expected to live in Manitoba’s capital. He was arrested again soon after, Friday’s news release said.
Willemse was to live in Surrey, B.C., after serving a sentence for uttering threats, possession of weapons and breaching court orders. He was released in February 2026, police there said at the time, but was arrested again.
Under his latest release, Willemse is prohibited from attending public parks, among other restrictions.
He is five feet, 11 inches, about 225 pounds, with blue eyes and a shaved head with grey hair. Willemse has tattoos of a snake and a panther on his right arm and “wings/dragon” on his left arm, the release said.
Police said anyone with information about Willemse should call the high-risk sex offender unit at 431-489-8056, Winnipeg police at 204-986-6222 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 204-786-8477 (TIPS).
The Friday news release said police are notifying the public about Willemse’s release so people can protect themselves and warned that any kind of vigilante activity or harassment of Willemse will not be tolerated.