MANDEL: No, it's too soon for Toronto killer dad to seek freedom
· Toronto Sun
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Joel Roberto has now been convicted twice of killing his four-year-old son Jaelin — yet after almost 12 years in prison, he thinks he should now be eligible for parole.
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But for what that “father” allowed to happen to his poor child, never is too soon.
When first responders were finally called to the North York townhouse Roberto shared with his common-law wife Ravyn Colley, on Oct. 13, 2014, rigor mortis had already set in. The forensic pathologist who examined Jaelin’s emaciated body found he was covered in bruises, lacerations and contusions from “multiple impacts against a firm surface” with the death blows being blunt force trauma to his head and the aspiration of vomit.
He was so malnourished that he weighed just 27 pounds and his heart muscles had begun to atrophy.
Instead of immediately calling for help as Jaelin lay dying, covered in vomit , his eyes swollen shut, with evidence of fresh bruises on his face, his sick parents recorded a cellphone video of him. Then they waited a further 51 minutes before Roberto, then 27, called 911.
Those horrific facts have now been put before two juries: the couple’s first trial in 2017 ended with Colley convicted of first-degree murder and Roberto of second-degree . After the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial due to the presiding judge’s intemperate remarks, a second jury this spring convicted them again — though this time, both were found guilty of second-degree, which carries an automatic life term with no possibility of parole for at least 10 years.
It is up to veteran Superior Court Justice John McMahon to decide when they should be eligible to apply for early release.
The mom’s sentencing hearing been delayed to the fall while her lawyers seek an enhanced pre-sentence report. So it was her former partner’s turn to go first: defence lawyers Katie Scott and Simona Petti urged the judge to set Roberto’s parole eligibility at 15 years but reduce it by three years and two months due to the harsh conditions he endured while at Toronto East detention centre.
And since he’s already served 11 years and eight months since his arrest, that would make him almost immediately eligible to apply now for early release.
Assistant crown attorney Leanna Guzzo argued Roberto shouldn’t be allowed to apply for parole until he’s served 18 years — the same as his sentence following his first trial.
Both sides agreed Colley was the aggressor and caused the blunt force trauma to Jaelin’s head but that Roberto was her enabler who failed to stop her abuse or get help for their son.
‘Video says it all’
“The video says it all,” agreed McMahon. “When you see a child like that and you do nothing? That is exceptionally aggravating.”
Guzzo said it’s hard to imagine anyone — let alone his parents — choosing to record him in that state.
“He was a young defenceless child and those who took his life were the very people who were supposed to protect him: his parents,” she said. “What Jaelin had to endure during his last few weeks and months of life is unimaginable. He was starved, he had blunt force trauma, he was left to die when both his parents, including Mr. Roberto, were home. They were there and they watched him die. They filmed him dying.”
And then Roberto lied and told first responders and police that Jaelin had fallen down the stairs.
“This calls for a sentence that will denounce the behaviour of Mr. Roberto,” she argued. “This was physical and psychological torture for this child.”
The prosecutor argued Roberto still hasn’t shown remorse for his role in causing Jaelin’s death — only sadness that his child is gone.
Offered the chance to speak, the convicted killer offered only this:
“I wake up every day knowing that I see the sun and my son doesn’t and I go to bed knowing he won’t get up. I wear that for the rest of my life.”
The judge will sentence Roberto next week.