In a packed courtroom on the seventh floor of the University Avenue courthouse in Toronto, a judge told Joel Roberto that it was incomprehensible that he could turn a blind eye to the abuse and malnutrition of his four-year-old son, Jaelin Colley.
He then sentenced the now 30-year-old to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years for the second-degree murder of Jaelin.
“The intentional murder of a child is particularly egregious especially when it’s one’s own child,” said Justice Todd Ducharme, calling the crime an act of “extraordinary callousness.”
Roberto called 911 at 2 a.m. on Oct. 13, 2014 claiming his son had fallen down the stairs of the family’s townhouse near Finch Avenue and Don Mills Road in North York.
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But the judge said Roberto lied, after concocting the story with his common-law wife, the boy’s mother, Ravyn Colley.
“I find that Jaelin was dead when Roberto called 911 and [he] lied during the 911 call about him breathing.”
An autopsy found that Jaelin, who was just 27 pounds at the time of his death and just months from turning five years old, died from blunt force trauma to the head, aspiration of vomit to the lungs and chronic severe protein malnutrition.
The couple was arrested and charged with failing to provide the necessities of life, but the charges were later upgraded to first-degree murder.
Ravyn was convicted by a jury of first-degree murder in July after a seven-week trial, but the jury found Roberto guilty on the lesser charge of second-degree murder.
Ravyn is already serving an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
During the trial, Roberto tried to paint himself as the minor player in the death of his son, but the judge rejected that portrayal.
Ducharme said that Roberto had to be aware that Jaelin was being starved and did nothing about it.
“Jaelin’s malnourishment took place over several months.”
He also found that Roberto assaulted Jaelin on either Oct. 8 or 9 of 2014 and did bodily harm to the child.
Ducharme called the boy’s father “a dishonest witness who continued to minimize his responsibility and shift blame onto Ms. Colley.”
The judge also noted that the animus for the months of neglect was “Jaelin’s toileting issue.”
Outside court, the officer in charge, Det. Ted Lioumanis, explained to Global News that Jaelin’s parents had some potty training concerns.
“I don’t think these parents were able to handle that and it led to this outcome for poor Jaelin,” he said.
Ducharme said that in this case, “there were no victim impact statements because there was no one to speak for Jaelin.”
Joel Roberto’s mother, sister and brother were in court today but left without commenting on the case.
Jaelin also had a little brother who was three years old at the time of the murder.
“He has lost his big brother and his parents for a very long time,” Ducharme said.
It is unclear who has custody of that child now.
Ravyn is appealing her first-degree murder conviction.