A sentencing hearing for a man charged with the slaying of 20-year-old Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin was thrown into disarray Monday after his lawyer told court he had received “a change in instruction” and could no longer defend him.
Josh Benoit, 22, had been set to begin a 10-day trial Monday for first-degree murder, but indicated through his lawyer late last month that he was prepared to enter a guilty plea, court was told.
That changed Monday, with Benoit’s lawyer confirming to prosecutors just minutes before the 10 a.m. hearing that Benoit would not enter a plea.
Facebook photo
Mackaylah Gerard-Roussin, 20, told relatives she wanted to become a child psychologist.
“I have met with my client and due to instructions I have now received I am not in a position to proceed today,” defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn told King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond.
“As a result, I am going to have to ask the court to consider an application to withdraw, based on a breakdown, that if granted, would leave Mr. Benoit without counsel.”
Grammond confirmed Synyshyn’s comments that Benoit would not enter a guilty plea, at which point the hearing was overwhelmed by angry shouting and anguished cries from the court gallery that was packed with Gerard-Roussin’s family members and supporters.
Grammond ordered a short recess and attendees were ushered to the hallway where a loud confrontation between supporters of the victim and the accused required the intervention of Sheriff’s officers.
“I think the change in pleas was obviously a shocker to everybody in the courtroom this morning, a very emotional time for all the family members who knew and loved Mackaylah,” her uncle Kevin Hart, a former regional chief of the Assembly of First Nations, told the Free Press minutes later.
He said family members face the possibility of reliving her death through a trial, Hart said.
“For us as a family we are going to gather our strength to encounter the next battle, and that is sitting through a trial and hearing all these horrific details that are going to come out,” Hart said.
When court resumed, Grammond consented to Synyshyn’s request to withdraw from the case and adjourned the matter to Jan. 8.
“That gives you a month to find new counsel,” Grammond told Benoit.
Court documents previously filed by the Crown allege family members believed Gerard-Roussin was going to meet the accused when she was last seen at about 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 25, 2022.
The documents said Benoit’s father called 911 at 1:40 p.m. on Aug. 27, 2022, to report a body of a female in the trunk of his son’s car.
Police previously said the suspect had fled before officers arrived.
Benoit is accused of setting his car on fire when he pulled over following a brief pursuit at about 3:30 p.m. on the same day.
The vehicle became engulfed in flames shortly after he got out, and forensic chemistry showed an accelerant was used, as per the documents.
During the search for Gerard-Roussin, who was not in the vehicle, the RCMP became aware of a “separate police incident” on Aug. 25, 2022, in which there was a report of a male digging a large, deep hole near a rural road.
Officers found and took a photo of the hole, where the lid of a plastic container was visible at the bottom, the documents said.
Upon hearing about the search for Gerard-Roussin, officers returned and found the hole had been filled.
Her body was found when the site was excavated.
Former classmates have told the Free Press that Gerard-Roussin and Benoit attended Tec Voc High School together and became friends.
She was employed as a youth worker at Rossbrook House, an inner-city drop-in centre, before she was hired by a TD Canada Trust branch in Winnipeg.
Gerard-Roussin had told relatives she wanted to continue to help kids and become a child psychologist.
Last year, Benoit’s former lawyer, Jill Duncan, requested that he undergo a mental health assessment to determine whether he should be found not criminally responsible for the killing because of a mental disorder.
The Crown confirmed Monday that had the case gone to trial, a not criminally responsible defence was not going to be argued.
dean.pritchard@frepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.
Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.