The family of Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin celebrated with cheers and applause moments after her convicted killer was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years in a Winnipeg courtroom on Friday.
Josh Benoit, 24, was found guilty of first-degree murder in May in the death of 20-year-old Gerard-Roussin in 2022. Benoit sat silently and stared straight ahead as Gerard-Roussin’s family and friends read victim impact statements. When asked by Justice Candace Grammond if he would like to say anything before being sentenced, he shook his head no.
Twelve of Gerard-Roussin’s friends and family wrote victim impact statements, remembering her as a kind, joyful and selfless person. Many were too emotional to deliver the statements out loud and had the Crown attorneys read them on their behalf.
Gerard-Roussin’s father, Kirby Gerard, attempted to read his statement, facing Benoit as he did, but he quickly broke down in tears and was unable to continue.
“When my daughter was born, I never thought I’d be alone again. I thought she’d be there with me for the rest of my life,” he said outside court. “Now I just feel alone all the time.”
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His cousin, Andrea Gerard, finished the statement for him. At the end, she faced Justice Grammond, urging her to remember that Mackaylah will never get married, have children or grow old.
“That’s hard for us. That’s hard for us to know that possibly, Josh Benoit could do all these things,” she said later. “He gets to open his eyes every day, and Mackaylah doesn’t.”
Gerard-Roussin went missing on Aug. 25, 2022. Days later, her body was found wrapped in a tarp and buried in a plastic container on an ATV trail near Woodridge, Man.
Court found Benoit, who had known Gerard-Roussin for many years, planned her murder and had bought the supplies and dug the grave before killing her.
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Although nothing will bring her daughter back, Melissa Roussin said she’s relieved Benoit will stay behind bars.
“I’m grateful and thankful to have all the support and loved ones with me, because I don’t know what I would do without them,” she said, surrounded by family outside court.
The court also acknowledged that Mackaylah is one of many Indigenous women and girls who are overrepresented among victims of violent crime.
The family says they will try to heal one day at a time and work to keep Mackaylah’s memory alive.
Glenn, if you bothered to research more in this story, you would have heard Mackayiah was murdered by an Indigenous male, Josh Benoit.
I don’t care what race, color or nationality you are and yes caucasians/whites are a race and color too as well as being a nationality/culture with traditions and our languages as others are – it is a tragedy when so many people are killed or go missing and/or murdered! over 51,000 plus (there probably is a lot more than this by now) women, men, and children of every race/heritage go missing and/or murdered. Aboriginals (mixed), do not have the monopoly on that and very often they are killed by their own people (men). That is a situation that Chiefs need to addres instead of blaming Whites & colonization!!ALL LIVES MATTER!!
WOW! Would they express the same sentiments when their own people do their own people in?? There seems to be more of that among the AFN community!! But – our justice system is always lenient to AFN it seems even in sentencing. My White nephew was killed by an Aboriginal that only spent minimal time in jail. My nephew will not open his eyes again. My son, stabbed severely on a Winnipeg street by same, will recover but the resulting affects will last a lifetime as will the mistrust of AFN. I could say more but —–