Man who stabbed prison guard at his home gets statutory release

Article content

A man who stabbed a prison guard decades ago while the victim was asleep inside his home in Laval’s Ste-Rose district will soon automatically qualify for a statutory release on the eight-year sentence he is serving.

Sylvain Belisle, 57, was done in by his DNA, in 2017, when advances in technology linked his genetic profile to the stabbing, which had gone unsolved for 22 years.

Article content

On Aug. 11, 1995, Belisle somehow entered the guard’s home and stabbed him in the stomach. The guard woke up and chased his attacker down a stairway while the victim’s spouse called 911. At the time of the stabbing, Belisle was out on a release and was still serving an eight-month prison term he received earlier in 1995. The guard worked at the same detention centre where Belisle served time behind bars during the sentence.

Following his arrest by Laval police in 2017, he admitted to stabbing the guard, but he also says he was very drunk at the time and that he had no idea the person he attacked was a prison guard.

According to decisions made by the Parole Board of Canada, Belisle has a history of problems with authority. He was convicted of assaulted police officers on three different occasions during the 1990s.

While he was initially charged with attempted murder for the attack on the guard, he eventually pleaded guilty, on March 22, 2018, to aggravated assault and breaking and entering. He was sentenced to an eight-year prison term and was left with seven years to serve as of May 2, 2018.

Article content

Article content

He was not previously granted parole and qualified for his first statutory release in December 2022, after he reached the two-thirds mark of his sentence. That release was revoked, on July 20, 2023, because of several problems that arose while Belisle was residing at a halfway house, including how he intimidated other offenders living there.

The most recent parole decision describes how Belisle identifies as an Indigenous person because his paternal grandfather is one. While his parents “never discussed his Indigenous roots” people familiar with his file believe the loss of his cultural identity contributed to his low self-esteem and a lengthy criminal record that began in 1985.

“Your exposure to violence within your family, the loss of your cultural identity and the traumas experienced in relation to your Aboriginal social history may certainly have had a impact on your behavioural trajectory and your involvement in crime. You thus show distrust and resistance towards authority figures and you tend to blame others and the justice system for your problematic behaviours. The parole board encourages you to take advantage of the services offered in the community to Indigenous people to help you connect more deeply to your culture, traditions and community that can help you lead towards the path of healing. You admit your guilt for the present offences, but you are still not capable of identifying the contributing factors to your crime.”

Article content

In the decision made last week, the parole board imposed strict conditions to Belisle’s second statutory release. He has to reside at a halfway house for the rest of his sentence. He is not allowed to consume alcohol or use drugs unless they are prescribed to him and he is also required to follow psychological counselling.

“The board is concerned by your aggressiveness and your multiple threats towards authorities, even in a prison environment. Your file indicates that you have uttered threats not only towards fellow detainees, but also towards members of the staff in penitentiaries, going so far as to threaten a teacher by simulating a firearm with your fingers and making threats to attack staff members at halfway houses,” the board wrote while explaining why it is imposing the requirement that Belisle reside at a halfway house. “Your behaviour in the community also remains problematic and conflicting. Your case management team (the people who prepare an offender for a release) point out your tendency to lose your temper and verbally attack people when you are upset. Your history of returning to the community attests to your failures to comply with your legal obligations.”

pcherry@postmedia.com

Article content

Article content