Man who stabbed a stranger in N.D.G. awaiting sentencing
Prosecutor seeking to have 27-year-old declared dangerous or long-term offender
A man who stabbed a young woman in the neck last year in Notre-Dame-de-Grace has blamed the attack on drug abuse and an argument he had with his father.
Mathew Roberge, 27, is awaiting a sentencing hearing after he recently pleaded guilty to aggravated assault by endangering the life of a person when he stabbed the woman, a person he had never met before, on Jan. 27, 2016, as she was heading home alone on Monkland Ave.
The blade of the knife broke and remained in the victim’s neck. Roberge was arrested shortly after the attack when he was found hiding under a balcony in the same neighbourhood. According to a statement of facts read into the court record at the Montreal courthouse, Roberge spotted the woman while both were riding on the métro and followed her after she exited the Villa Maria station.
Defence lawyer François Gauthier said his client was upset when he stabbed the woman and was “in a high state of psychosis” that morning because he had attempted suicide by consuming a significant amount of drugs. Gauthier said Roberge tried to end his own life following an argument with his father. An attempted murder charge Roberge faced in the same case was placed under a stay of proceedings.
At the time of the attack, Roberge was serving a 19-month sentence he received on Sept. 18, 2014, for having killed a man outside a bar in Laval. Roberge was drunk at the time and sucker-punched the victim, Jean Balthazar, while he was arguing with a bouncer. Roberge pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received the sentence after a prosecutor made an error and told the sentencing judge Roberge had no criminal record at the time.
In fact, in 2008, Roberge pleaded guilty at the Montreal courthouse to possession of cocaine with intent to traffic and was sentenced on Dec. 16, 2009, to a 12-month conditional sentence he could serve in the community. That same day, he was also sentenced in a different case in which he had pleaded guilty to obstructing a police officer.
During the more recent hearing at the Montreal courthouse, prosecutor Anne Gauvin made reference to the homicide when she announced she intends to file a request seeking to have Roberge declared either a dangerous or long-term offender. A dangerous offender designation can result in an indefinite sentence while the other designation can result in conditions being imposed on a person for a period of 10 years after their prison term expires. Gauvin did not tell Quebec court Judge Lori Renée Weitzman which designation she will seek.
The case returns to court in November to set a date for a hearing on whether Roberge can be designated as a dangerous or long-term offender.