Friend of CBC producer 'haunted' after his death, court hears

Fear now lives in the space CBC News producer Michael Finlay held for his friend of more than 50 years after Finlay was randomly fatally assaulted last year, court heard on Monday. 

"I wish I could expel the fear and welcome Michael back in," said Paul Knox, a journalist and professor emeritus at Toronto Metropolitan University, according to a copy of his victim impact statement obtained by CBC News. 

Finlay, 73, was assaulted by a stranger on Jan. 24 last year as he walked along Danforth Avenue. He fell to the ground and died in hospital a week later. 

Robert Robin Cropearedwolf, 45, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in relation to Finlay's death in May. 

During Cropearedwolf's sentencing hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice Monday, Knox said he has become hyperaware of potential threats while moving through Toronto as an elderly and disabled person. 

"I am haunted by dark truths about chance and ill will," Knox said. 

Knox's friendship with Finlay began when the pair worked on a student newspaper together at the University of British Columbia in 1967. 

From their earliest days as "brothers in arms," Finlay "had a poet's tricks and a crime writer's sense of justice," Knox said. 

Though life, love and work took the pair on different paths  – Finlay focused on radio documentary, Knox on print journalism –  Knox said they never lost track of one other. The friends ended up living blocks away from each other on the Danforth, he said. 

Finlay's journalistic career, particularly his interest in reporting on Africa and his mentorship of new reporters, was shaped by his concern for the underdog, Knox said. 

"With Michael gone we are short one ally, and in that sense, we're all victims," he said. 

Knox said he often remembers anecdotes and observations his friend once made as he moves through his daily life. He has even wondered what Finlay would have to say about the manner of his own death, he said. 

"Would he find the story outrageous, ironic, mordantly humorous?" Knox said. 

Cropearedwolf has a long criminal record in Canada and the United States, the Crown said, including charges of theft, assault and burglary.