Violent thief hugged, apologized to victim

Man said it wasn’t personal

A man who wounded and robbed a woman, apologized and hugged her after the crime.

Michelle Michael, 41, testified Monday that the man said, “Don’t take it personal,” as he unlocked the door to release her from the house where he had struck her in the forehead with the sawedoff stock of a .22 calibre rifle and robbed her last Dec. 10.

Hours later, Michael pointed to Terence Eugene Desjarlais in a police photo lineup.

Although the man wore a red and black bandana over part of his face, Michael said she is 99.9 per cent certain Desjarlais is her attacker because she recognized his long frizzy hair, acne scars and eyes. She also recognized his mouth, which she could see when he spoke.

Desjarlais is on trial at Saskatoon provincial court on 13 counts, including robbery with a firearm, unlawful confinement, wearing a mask in the commission of an offence, threats, possession of proceeds of crime and numerous weapons charges.

Michael said she stopped at a house on the 400 block of Ave. G South, where she had been invited by a woman she had recently become friends with.

As she spoke to the woman at the door, a masked man inside the porch pushed her aside and pointed a rifle at Michael’s face. He pulled her into the porch and demanded all her possessions.

Michael said when she tried to push the rifle away from her, the man pulled the trigger and she felt a blast of air and heard a loud noise.

“He said, ‘the next one’s going to be real if you don’t give me what I want,’” Michael said.

Police later found a bullet hole in the wall of the porch and a casing on the window sill.

Michael tried to escape but the door was locked.

The man struck her above one eye with the butt of the gun, she said.

Michael later received 10 stitches to close the wound that had bled so profusely over her face that she lost a contact lens.

Three young females came from inside the house and helped drag the struggling woman inside, where they threw her to the floor.

A woman came into the room with two frightened-looking children, asking what was going on in her house, Michael said.

As Michael lay there, the man took cash from her purse, the girls looked through her bags of newly purchased Christmas presents and the mother of the children said she wanted the purse.

Michael said she scolded the thieves, saying they should have more respect for a grandmother.

The man told the women to leave her things alone because “it was his gig,” Michael said.

As he unlocked the door, the man gave her hug with one arm and said, “I’m sorry. Don’t take it personal,” Michael said.

She went home and called the police. A search of the crime scene uncovered a .22 rifle with a sawedoff stock.

The trial continues Tuesday.