A murder conviction has brought back a lot of painful emotions for a Saskatoon woman.
In 2005, Crystal LaPlante’s father John Richard Roy, 53, was stabbed 18 times by his common-law partner’s son, Jordan Thomas Lumberjack.
And after Lumberjack served his manslaughter sentence, he stabbed and killed his cousin Lance Severight.
Last month, Lumberjack was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury in Melfort court for the Sept. 2013 crime.
“He didn’t value the time he went and spent in jail, he didn’t value the time he got out and got released, to do anything better with his life. He just went back and did the same thing,” LaPlante said.
The Kinistin-Saulteaux area murder has striking similarities. In both cases, Lumberjack had a family connection to the victim. Lumberjack had also been drinking both nights.
Finally, both men were stabbed multiple times.
“It just rehashed all your memories from going through a traumatic time in your life to think that a guy did the same thing almost to the day of, with the same similarities as that. That’s why I say, you know, people can all blame alcohol but consciously, you know, if you pick up a weapon and you know you’re going to use it, there’s nothing that’s going to stop you, it’s not the alcohol talking,” LaPlante said.
LaPlante had lived near Roy in Saskatoon – Roy was fatally stabbed in his own apartment building.
The day after Roy’s death, LaPlante’s sons heard that their grandfather was gone while they were at school. She said that was a very experience.
She said they were very close, and he had a lot going for him before his death. Before his death, Roy had been planning to go back to school to take chef training. Now, LaPlante’s children are growing up without a grandfather.
Laplante says she feels for Severight’s family because she knows the kind of suffering they’ve experienced.
In 2007, Lumberjack entered a guilty plea for manslaughter in Roy’s death. Five victim impact statements, including one from LaPlante were submitted in the case.
Lumberjack also wrote a letter to the Roy family apologizing and writing “I know my words must seem meaningless to you, but I hope this better gives some closure to you and your family.”
LaPlante says his six-year sentence and early release wasn’t easy to deal with, and was less than she’d hoped for.
“It’s not like it was a random attack. The violence in which my father had suffered when he died, you know his killer went back and took a second knife to him, and when you think of that, the guy has no conscience,” she said.
The only comfort the recent case has given LaPlante is that Lumberjack will be behind bars for a long time.
He’s still awaiting sentencing on Nov. 25, but a second-degree conviction comes with an automatic life sentence. The only thing to be decided is his parole eligibility.