Parents Of Teen Who Butchered His Own Brother Give Emotional Impact Statements

But the teen killer at the centre of the so-called “Johnathon trial” broke down in tears Thursday as he listened to his mother reflect on what the crime has meant to the family.

The case goes back to November 2003, when police were called to a home in the city to discover a horrific scene – the body of a 12-year-old boy stuffed into the crawl space. he’d been stabbed 71 times.

Investigators later arrested three boys – including his then-16-year-old sibling. 

One of the youngsters was convicted of manslaughter, while another walked free. The brother was found guilty of first-degree murder last February.

In her victim impact statement, the mother who lost one son to murder and another to certain jail time didn’t mince words about her heart-rending experience.

“If Jonathan were here now he would forgive his big brother,” she told the court, as his killer openly sobbed. “In Jonathan’s eyes he was and always will be his big brother …  I have to help my oldest son to get the help he needs to recover from this tragedy because I love him.”

A judge is currently trying to decide if the convicted murderer should be sentenced as an adult and is hearing the impassioned pleas from those impacted by the tragedy.

Because of his age at the time of the crime, the identity of the teen, who’s now 19, can’t be revealed.

But one of the boy’s relatives is hoping that if the killer winds up going to adult prison the world will finally be able to hear about who the murder victim really was.

“He deserves respect,” she maintains, outside the courtroom. “He deserves honour. He deserves to be shown how brave he was up to the moment he died. He deserves to show how many hearts he has touched in his life, and he deserves the recognition.

“He doesn’t deserve just to be labelled “Johnathan” and that’s it and everybody forget about him.”

In a separate impact statement, the boy’s stepfather, who was badly beaten with a baseball bat during the attack, also recalled the lasting impact of the crime.

He suggests he was the real object of the murder and laments not coming home before the attack on Johnathon. And he claims to have constant nightmares about the incident.

But nothing is worse than his reality.

“The death of a child is a horrendous experience – but when one son takes the life of another son – how can anyone understand or make sense of what happened?” he asks. “I thought that through the trial I would get some closure – but I now no longer believe I will ever get over this experience.”

He concludes by saying that while he loves his son,” justice needs to be served.”

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Excerpts from the Victim Impact Statements

Here are some excerpts from the mother’s statement, beginning with how her son began to change after the death of a family member.

“He slowly began to withdraw from our family and stopped wanting to be involved in family activities and outings.[We] tried to encourage him to have a more positive outlook and to try and focus and to do better at school. It was very hard for me to watch him go through rough times and not be able to help him.

“It was very painful for me to see him sad. I always just wanted to grab him and hug him and tell him things will get better, but he never liked to be hugged and always said he was too big for hugs.

“I wish I had known how to get through to him. I wish that he had realized that I was always there for him if he needed me. It was very tough on Johnathon to see his brother going through these rough times … He was so scared and worried about his brother. [who] seemed not to want to be part of the family anymore.”

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“I wish I had been able to stop his pain and do more for him. He seemed to be at the age he didn’t want to be treated as a boy and too immature to be an independent adult. Growing up is never easy and that’s why I feel so emotionally and physically destroyed inside, as I couldn’t fix the pain growing up causes …

“People tell me I am being so strong, but I really don’t understand how I am able to put on the front, when I feel so much pain inside. I feel so empty and lost. To put it into a direct term, I feel that everything inside me is dead. My sons were my pride and joy.

“There are times when I look outside and see kids playing and laughing. It’s so hard to swallow because I think that should be my boys playing and laughing and enjoying life the way it’s meant to be enjoyed. You can lose people you love and think that’s painful, but the loss of your own child is the deepest gut wrenching feeling that you can ever imagine.

“Because the wound feels so raw and is constantly being ripped open and never heals. I feel there is a volcano deep in the pit of my stomach that feels like it’s about to erupt but never does.

The burning sensation never goes away and sometimes I feel and hope that that I am dying so the pain I feel will stop. It hurts so much!

“The pain in my chest is so sharp and sometimes I don’t feel like I belong anywhere and have no purpose here anymore … I just feel lost. I miss my sons. I miss being a mother … I feel like I have lost both of my children.”

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“I just want to say to everybody ‘help me heal by releasing the tears that I try and hide inside.’ I hurt when everybody just keeps silent and pretends that he doesn’t exist anymore.”

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“I’m so thankful that I was able to have Johnathon for those short twelve years than to have never known him at all … I have to believe he’s in a good place and that he is not alone. He was never given the chance to say goodbye, one day I will be reunited with him again. And if love alone could have saved him, he never would have died.”

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On the son who committed the murder.

“I know I will never forget what has happened but I will work on forgiving him and I hope he will work on forgiving me for not knowing how to fix the problems of growing up and being a teenager or not being there that fatal day, as maybe he would have talked to me.

“I know that still Johnathon loves him and will be standing with him for the rest of his life … I know that if Johnathon were here now and had not succumbed to his injuries, he would have forgiven his big brother.”

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Statement by stepfather

“Johnathon was a very special boy. He was a free spirit, a wanderer, and a compassionate, caring child. He would go out of his way to help others…

“I did everything to make sure he was safe. But I feel that I failed, because I could not keep my son safe in our own home. I still feel the guilt.

“Time seems to have stopped since that day in November. I have not been able to sleep without medication … The nightmares were relentless … I have not been able to find any peace.

“As far as the attack on my own life, a day does not go by that I don’t feel the pain in my hand from the baseball bat that was used to strike me.

“The past two and a half years have been a financial nightmare. Because the murder happened in our home, we were unable to return to live there. We ended up moving three times …

“There is little that gives me joy and life seems to be a constant struggle.

“The death of a child is a horrendous experience – but when one son takes the life of another son – how can anyone understand or make sense of what happened?

“I thought that through the trial I would get some closure – but I now no longer believe I will ever get over this experience.”

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He concludes with his own idea of what should happen to his surviving son.

“[They] need to be held accountable for what they did. They took the life of an innocent boy. They attempted to take my life. They have forever impacted the lives of our family, friends and the entire community. While there is no way to make it better – justice needs to be served.”