A man who has served four years in remand awaiting disposition of his status was declared a dangerous offender on Monday.
Clement Joseph Robinson, 52, must now serve an indefinite prison term, followed by lengthy supervision.
Provincial court Judge Thomas Schollie made the ruling following a review of transcripts and medical reports compiled during a four-week hearing late last year.
Robinson was already classed as a long-term offender who has been sentenced to set jail terms, followed by supervision.
The hearing was conducted at the request of 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. He was also convicted of uttering death threats against a brother at the same time.
The accused has been in custody since the stabbing described by Schollie as a major assault.
Robinson attempted to stab the woman in the chest but she blocked three or four thrusts with her arms, resulting in a three-stitch arm wound.
After fleeing the woman’s residence, Robinson phoned a relative and told her he had killed a girl.
Robinson served prison terms of four and a half years and seven years for sexual assaults on prostitutes in Calgary in 1993 and in 1982.
He was living in Red Deer at the time of the 2006 incident.
Schollie said Robinson demonstrated a pattern of aggressive behaviour toward prostitutes.
The judge also said he accepted a psychiatrist’s opinion that Robinson presented a continuing threat to the community.
“He’s difficult to control in the community and it won’t mellow with age,” Schollie said, paraphrasing the doctor.
Schollie also said there was no evidence that Robinson suffered from inherited organic brain disease, a notion that was raised by the defence.
“A lot of people have worked over the year with the accused . . . I don’t know what else could have been done for him,” Schollie said.
Robinson has gone through sex-related offence therapy programs in federal jails in Alberta and Saskatchewan.
Schollie said it was important to look at a person’s past as a clue to his future.
“He has not changed his ways,” Schollie said in reference to the fact that Robinson has not always been truthful with therapists and doctors about his criminal actions.
Dangerous offenders aren’t simply locked up and the key thrown away, a corrections official testified in January at a similar hearing in Calgary.
Michael Smith, acting program manager at Drumheller Institution, said offenders labelled as dangerous are assessed similarly to all other inmates in the federal correctional system.
Smith told court that prison parole officers determine an offender’s treatment program based on their risk and when they’re likely to be released.
In Alberta, there are about 30 inmates classed as dangerous offenders and in Canada there are about 350.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com