4 charged with kidnapping, assault after woman forced into West Broadway suite and beaten

A woman was forced into an apartment suite in Winnipeg's West Broadway area where she was held captive and repeatedly assaulted and robbed early Thursday morning, police say.

Four people two men and two women are charged withkidnapping, robbery and assault with a weapon in connection with the incident in the first one hundred block of Balmoral Street, between Young Street and Broadway.

Police were called about a disturbance and possible assault around 3:30 a.m. Thursday. When officers asked at the suite if everything was OK, theynoticed a womanin her 20s covertly askingfor help, stated a Friday news release.

She told them she had been assaulted by the other people in the suite, before being taken to hospital for injuries to her head and upper body.

Police arrestedAnthony Joseph Kostanjevic, 37,Justin James Anderson, 33, Cadence Grace McIlwain-Collard, 37, and Tanisha Caitlin Flett, 29.

The victim and the four accused knew each other, police said.

She wasconfronted by the group about a previous issue and forced into the apartment, where she was repeatedly assaulted and robbed, according to police.

She managed to escape at one point but was dragged back, which waswitnessed by someone who then made the call to police.

Flett, the 29-year-old accused, was previously charged withsecond-degree murderinthedeath of Heather Marie Cheyane Beardy in early 2022, but that charge was stayed.

Beardywas found dead in an apartment on FurbyStreet,near Ellice Avenue, in February that year.

Flettwas one of three people arrested and charged. The charge against her was stayed in October 2022, afterthe only witness implicating her died.