Alberta man to be sentenced for murdering his father in 2017
An Alberta man will be sentenced next week for murdering his father by beating him, then stabbing him 86 times.
Kristian Stroh, 40, started serving an automatic life sentence in March 2020 after being convicted of second-degree murder. Now, Court of Queen's Bench Justice John Gill must determine when Stroh will be able to apply for parole.
The Criminal Code states he could become eligible for parole after serving 10 to 25 years of his sentence. Crown prosecutor Jeff Rudiak suggested a period of parole ineligibility for 15 to 17 years, while defence lawyer Marshall Hopkins asked for the minimum 10 years.
"For Mr. Stroh, an appropriate or fit and proper period of parole ineligibility is exactly the minimum," Hopkins argued. "If in fact it could be less than 10 years, it should be."
In 2017, Stroh, his wife Sasha and their five children were living on his father's farm in Strathcona County. They occupied the main house, while his father, Norman Stroh, lived in a cabin about 90 metres away.
Stroh described his 71-year-old father as his best friend, noting that Norman Stroh was even the best man at his wedding. But his feelings toward his father started changing in March 2017 after Stroh, a self-admitted alcoholic, stopped drinking cold turkey.
He started believing his father had sexually abused him as a child. He now claims it was a false memory.
During the trial, Sasha Stroh testified that her husband became depressed and suicidal. At one point, she had him admitted to hospital for a couple of days. The doctor thought he was suffering from alcohol withdrawal.
On the day of the stabbing, in April 2017, he announced to his family, "I have had enough."
Stroh grabbed his wife by the shoulder and told her to take their children away from the farm. Then he turned and walked to his father's cabin.
'He's got a knife'
Norman Stroh was inside the cabin with his seven-year-old grandson. The two were laughing at a dining room table when Stroh raced in, yelled at his father, then punched him repeatedly in the head.
"Grandpa fell on ground because Dad was punching him too hard on the forehead. Dad looked at me but didn't really see me," states a victim impact statement filed on behalf of the little boy.
"Then I got on my bike and rode home and told mom."
Sasha Stroh was horrified when she reached her father-in-law's cabin. Her reactions are captured in real time on a chilling 19-minute call she made to 911, the tape of which was entered as an exhibit.
About five minutes into the call, she suddenly starts yelling at her husband to stop. Then she tells the 911 operator, "He's got a knife."
The operator tells her to leave the scene immediately.
"I am not leaving my father-in-law to get killed," she responds.
Sasha began screaming. She left the cabin and began to hyperventilate and cry, repeating, "Oh my God," over and over.
When police got on the call, she informed them her husband had just severely beaten Norman Stroh. He then told her to leave before stabbing his father.
"I don't know if he's alive or not now," she said.
She loaded her children into a van and drove to a nearby community hall to wait for RCMP and paramedics to arrive at the scene.
Stroh surrendered without incident. RCMP found him on the road dressed only in his underwear, his hands covered in blood.
Most of the 86 stab wounds Norman Stroh suffered were to his torso.
'He hopes his dad stays in jail forever'
In her one-page victim impact statement, Sasha Stroh called Stroh's actions "selfish and manipulative".
"My sense of security has vanished," she wrote. "Visions of the gruesome scene continue coming to mind, particularly at night."
Her children are now afraid of their father, especially her son who witnessed the start of the attack, she said.
"[He] is also scared his father might get out of jail and hurt him," Sasha wrote. "He hopes his dad stays in jail forever."
Based on his lack of criminal record prior to the murder conviction and his behaviour while incarcerated, Stroh has been downgraded to a medium-security prison.
He will be sentenced on Dec.1.
