A judge has declared Michael James Robertson a dangerous offender and ordered him to serve an indefinite prison sentence for the stabbing death of 42-year-old Rocky Genereaux in Saskatoon.
“Woo-hoo!” one of Genereaux’s family members cried out in the courtroom when Justice Ronald Mills announced his decision in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday.
It has been a long road for Genereaux’s family, who sat through a lengthy dangerous offender hearing last June — one year after a jury convicted Robertson of manslaughter.
“The name Rocky Genereaux may not mean anything to the rest of the world, but to our family he was a smile, a laughter, a kind heart,” his sister, Prudence Genereaux, wrote in a victim impact statement.
Robertson stabbed Genereaux, a stranger to him, in the stomach during an argument over a cellphone chip on March 12, 2015. At the time, he was a long-term offender who had recently run away from a halfway house in Alberta while on statutory release.
Rocky Genereaux.
Court heard Robertson was serving a 12-year sentence, to be followed by a seven-year supervision order, for two robberies. One involved Robertson shooting a man in the eye with a pellet gun.
The Crown sought to have Robertson, now 30, designated a dangerous offender on the basis that manslaughter is a “serious personal injury offence” and establishes a pattern of repetitive, violent behaviour.
Justice Mills agreed, ruling Robertson proved his “inability to restrain his behaviour” by stabbing Genereaux and therefore poses a threat to the public.
A judge can sentence a dangerous offender to either a defined or indefinite prison term.
Two medical experts testified at Robertson’s dangerous offender hearing. They said he would need to cut ties with gangs and get treatment for his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) before he can be managed in the community. Court heard Robertson requires medication in order to be rehabilitated, but the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is hesitant to provide the necessary drugs because they can be abused in a prison setting.
Michael James Robertson
Mills determined that only an indefinite sentence will adequately protect the public from Robertson committing another serious crime — a decision he said he made with some reluctance.
“If the CSC could provide assurances that Mr. Robertson would be transferred to the Pacific Region to remove him from gang influence, and if the CSC could have assured me that Mr. Robertson would be appropriately treated for his ADHD, my decision … may have been different,” Mills remarked in his decision.
The national parole board will determine if and when Robertson should be released. Dangerous offenders with indefinite sentences must serve at least seven years before they are eligible to seek parole.