WARNING | This story contains disturbing details of a homicide.
An irreplaceable niece, sister, cousin, daughter, granddaughter and friend, and a young First Nations woman whose future was tragically stolen by a “monster.”
That’s how loved ones described the loss of Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin in victim impact statements read out in a Winnipeg court Friday, before a judge sentenced Josh Benoit to life in prison for first-degree murder in her death.
“What Josh did to my daughter was so horrible, so traumatizing, he doesn’t deserve to get out ever,” Gerard-Roussin’s mother, Melissa Roussin, wrote in a statement read out in court by a Crown prosecutor.
“I want him to have such an awful life. He’s a monster.”
Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond sentenced Benoit, 24, on Friday after a trial that began about five months ago.
Melissa Roussin and Kirby Gerard, Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin’s parents, outside court following Friday’s sentencing. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)
First-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence in Canada. Benoit won’t be eligible for parole for 25 years.
Benoit’s defence lawyer Jeremy Kostiuk said there was a “complete absence of any motive for what happened,” and that, coupled with evidence from Benoit’s father, showed he was “clearly unravelling in a profound way” in the months before he murdered Gerard-Roussin.
Justice Grammond said Benoit “is very unwell” and needs further psychiatric support.
“I certainly recognize the profound loss that all of you have suffered and the lasting harm,” she said.
“I acknowledge that the violence against Indigenous women and girls and gender-diverse people remains a national emergency. There’s no other way to say that.”
Found on ATV trail
Gerard-Roussin, then 20, was reported missing on Aug. 25, 2022. Her body was found two days later, buried in a plastic storage container along a remote ATV rail south of Woodridge, Man., about 95 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
Benoit was arrested on Aug. 28 and charged with first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted in May at the judge-only trial.
At trial, RCMP officers testified about surveillance footage purporting to show Benoit purchasing concrete mix, a large tote container and a baseball bat from a Canadian Tire store in Steinbach two days before Gerard-Roussin’s disappearance.
On Aug. 27, Benoit’s father discovered that container, with a hand sticking out, in the back of his son’s vehicle in Steinbach, where he had gone to help him fix a flat tire.
He called police, and Benoit fled in the vehicle. Grammond said that’s when it seems likely he buried Gerard-Roussin.
Benoit later lit his vehicle on fire before he was arrested.
‘Brought light into every room’
Crown prosecutors Danielle Simard and Renée Lagimodière took turns reading out the majority of the 13 statements written by Gerard-Roussin’s family and loved ones.
“We grapple with the emotional, mental and spiritual impact of her absence,” Simard said, reading words from Gerard-Roussin’s uncle Robert Decoste.
“She brought light into every room she entered. Her laugh made us smile and laugh with her…. Our lives will forever be a little darker without her.”
Crystal Zastre, left, and her sister Patsy Fawcett, outside the court building Friday. Zastre said she hopes Benoit understands the trauma he caused to all of Gerard-Roussin’s loved ones. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)
Crystal Zastre, Mackaylah’s great-aunt, looked across the courtroom at Benoit as Lagimodière read her statement, echoing others in calling Benoit a “monster.”
“I hope you live a very miserable life,” her statement said.
Outside court, Zastre said she felt some relief amid “a lot of anger, a lot of anxiety, a lot of frustration.”
Benoit “needed to hear everything that everyone … went up and said, and I hope that these words haunt him,” she said.
“I also feel that the justice system did well with this. I hope that somehow Josh understands what he did, and all the pain and the hurt and the trauma he caused.”
Kirby Gerard, Mackaylah’s father, faced Benoit during his victim impact statement.
Gerard-Roussin graduated from Rossbrook House’s Rising Sun alternative high school in 2021. (Rossbrook House)
“She will never have children, she will never build the career she was working so hard for.… Those opportunities were taken from her forever by you,” wrote Gerard, who cried and shook while standing next to a supporter who read out part of his victim impact statement.
“Our families live with that loss every day. Every birthday, every holiday, every family gathering and every milestone reminds us that Mackaylah should be here with us.”
People clapped and shouted as sheriffs escorted Benoit from court.
But outside court, Gerard said he wasn’t satisfied knowing Benoit could be eligible to apply for parole 25 years from now.
“When my daughter was born, I never thought I’d be alone again,” he said through tears. “I thought she’d be there with me for the rest of my life. Now I just feel alone all the time.”
Gerard said one memory on his mind lately is of flying a kite with his daughter when she was little, and how “she’d just come running with her arms open and then just jump on you.”
Melissa Roussin said she was reflecting on how her daughter would drop by to take her to bingo, and say “you look so pretty today.”
“I’m just glad that I got justice for my daughter,” Roussin said outside court Friday following the sentencing. “But it’s still not going to bring her back. I’d rather have her here right now beside me.”
WATCH | ‘Justice for my daughter,’ mother says as man sentenced in 2022 killing:
Justice for my daughter,’ mother says as man sentenced in 2022 killing
Josh Benoit was sentenced in a Winnipeg court Friday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, after he was convicted in May of first-degree murder in the death of Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin, 20.
Support is available for families and communities impacted by gender-based violence. Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Liaison Unit can be reached at 1-800-750-7566.