A dangerous offender hearing heard on Monday that a convicted sex offender could turn into a “monster” in a split second because of what his mother termed a brain disease.
Germaine Robinson told provincial court that she first noticed that her son Clement Joseph Robinson, 51, had the disorder when he was as young as 14 or 15.
She said she feared her son had the organic brain disease because her husband also had the disease and had been disabled for 20 years before his death in 1995.
She said Clement “would start to do crazy things” when he either drank alcohol or took drugs.
“It would just take a half a bottle of beer for him (Clement). He would go from a regular guy to a monster in a split second,” she told Judge Thomas Schollie. “I could see it right away.”
She said her husband would take out his anger on her and forget the next day that he assaulted her, she said.
The 70-year-old woman was the first of numerous witnesses to testify at the hearing, which is expected to last more than three weeks.
The hearing, which is now adjourned until Thursday, will determine if the accused should be declared a dangerous offender. That would allow authorities to have him serve an indefinite prison term followed by a lengthy supervision.
Clement Robinson is already classed as a long-term offender who has been sentenced to set jail terms followed by supervision.
The hearing was sought by the Crown after Robinson pleaded guilty in June 2007 to assaulting a former Red Deer escort by stabbing her with scissors on Jan. 25, 2006.
Clement Robinson had served two prison terms of four and a half years and seven years for sexual assaults on young Calgary prostitutes in 1993 and Drumheller in 1982.
He has been in custody since the 2006 stabbing.
His mother testified she sought help for her son at age 17 and he was in psychiatric hospitals in Calgary three or four times. She told Robinson’s lawyer, Arnold Piragoff, that the disease also robs the victim of their senses of smell and taste.
She said Clement never threatened her when he lapsed into the violent state.
Clement Robinson’s sister Dianne testified she still has contact with him but that he would be better off with round-the-clock supervision.
The victim of the scissors attack said Clement Robinson met her through a newspaper add under escorts.
The victim said it wasn’t until the third time they had sex that he became violent.
She said Robinson turned violent when he showed her a scar on his chest and said it was from a recent beating by two men.
However, she told him that in their previous encounter, he told her the scar was from heart surgery.
He held her hands above her head and tried to take her blouse off.
She then threatened him with physical violence at which point Robinson grabbed a pair of scissors.
He struck her several times with them and she required three stitches to a gash on her arm.
He also threatened to kill her brother.
She told Crown prosecutor Jason Snider her hope was for Robinson to remain in jail so he can’t hurt anyone else.
“If he got another chance, he would kill me,” she said.
She said she moved from Red Deer and is afraid to be alone with any stranger. “I’m grateful to be alive.”
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com