‘Disgusted’ by attacker’s sentence
Smadar Brandes, the woman who was nearly killed when a stranger who was high on drugs stabbed her in the neck, did not mince words after her attacker was sentenced to a prison term that could see him released from a penitentiary in little more than a year.
“Shocked and disgusted,” Brandes told the Montreal Gazette when asked for a reaction after Quebec Court Judge Lori Renée Weitzman agreed with a joint recommendation that Mathew Roberge, 28, be sentenced to an overall prison term of seven years, to be followed by eight years of surveillance as a long-term offender.
“I feel like there is a disconnect between what happens in the justice system and reality and common sense. If you ask anyone who is brought up with certain values and has a certain way of seeing the world and you ask them what they think about this case — the fact that he is going to be out in less than four years is mind-boggling.”
Brandes was informed of the joint recommendation less than 30 minutes before it was presented to Weitzman by prosecutor Anne Gauvin and defence lawyer François Gauthier.
With time served factored into his sentence, Roberge was left with a prison term of less than 42 months. He will be eligible for parole after he serves onethird of that sentence. Adding to Brandes’s frustration is that Roberge was still serving a four-year prison term for manslaughter when he tried to kill her.
She also still has difficulty understanding why Roberge was able to plead guilty to aggravated assault when he was initially charged with attempted murder, a much more serious offence under the Criminal Code.
During the sentence hearing, Weitzman heard that the blade of the knife Roberge used broke off inside Brandes’s neck when he stabbed her on Jan. 27, 2016. It missed her carotid artery by less than two millimetres and her life was probably saved by the actions of passerby Greg Wise, a 21-yearold student at the time, who calmed her and asked another passerby to hold her head while he called 911. Brandes’s husband, Lev Berner, and several members of her family testified on Tuesday. At least two mentioned how the doctor who performed surgery on her told them it was a miracle she survived.
“I was told that, according to the justice system, for it to be considered attempted murder you have to prove that he had the intent to kill,” Brandes said. “Apparently, a man’s actions are not sufficient (to prove attempted murder). He should have written somewhere on a piece of paper, maybe.”
Gauthier told Weitzman that, in the hours that preceded the stabbing, Roberge’s father could no longer tolerate his drug consumption and kicked him out of his house. The lawyer said his client was upset and consumed “everything he had on him” before getting on the métro. Roberge argued with another person while riding the métro and when he exited at Villa Maria — near where Brandes was stabbed on Monkland Ave. in Notre-Dame-de- Grâce — he somehow confused her with the person he had argued with.
“It is inexcusable and unexplainable,” Gauthier said.
Roberge tried to apologize to Brandes inside the courtroom, but she was not present when he was given a chance to speak.
“I can’t ask you to forgive me. I don’t understand it myself,” Roberge said to Brandes’s relatives who remained in the room.
“I was not interested in what he had to say,” Brandes said outside the courtroom. “I think it was all for show, and it doesn’t matter to me.”
Weitzman appeared to fight back tears at one point while she read from a decision she had prepared in anticipation of accepting the joint recommendation. The moment came when Weitzman stopped reading from her decision and said something not contained in the document in her hands.
The judge said she “took issue” with how Brandes told her she expects to never get over what happened to her. Damage to Brandes’s vocal chords has left her unable to teach English as a second language, a job she had prepared for. Nerve damage in her left hand has left her unable to play the cello as she once did. As the judge’s eyes reddened, she said she saw “tremendous strength” in the victim as Brandes read from her victimimpact statement. She also noted the obvious support Brandes has from her family.
“I’m sure that with time (Brandes and her family) will be able to move on,” the judge said.