McLaughlin sentenced six years for assaulting ex-girlfriend, ex-fiancée

The man at the centre of a massive police search in June was sentenced Thursday for assaults on an ex-girlfriend and his ex-fiancée.

Clinton McLaughlin pleaded guilty to the May 30 assault and kidnapping of ex-fiancée Mariana Cracogna and to assaulting, threatening and choking another ex-girlfriend who cannot be named due to a publication ban.

McLaughlin sat in Saskatoon Provincial Court holding his head in shaking hands as the Crown prosecutor detailed his crimes.

Court heard that the relationship between McLaughlin and the ex-girlfriend had ended by January 2014. When she broke it off, McLaughlin threatened to harm her if he saw her out at any bars.   When he saw the woman at the bar where he worked, he threatened to drag her out by her hair if she didn’t leave.  Sometime after that incident, McLaughlin sent the woman a text message, asking to meet up and talk so that the relationship didn’t end on bad terms.  Thinking he had calmed down, the woman agreed to the meeting.

McLaughlin arrived at her apartment and the two had a civil conversation until the woman got a text message.  Seeing that the message came from someone with a man’s name, McLaughlin flew into a rage, attacking the woman and forcing her to unlock her phone so he could go through the rest of her messages. Seeing that she’d been speaking with other men, McLaughlin dragged the woman into her bedroom where he beat her and choked her. McLaughlin also took the woman’s keys and made copies, threatening to have friends come and harm her if she reported the assault. The woman dropped out of university, gave up her apartment and left Saskatoon before going to police.

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On May 30, McLaughlin was out on bail for charges stemming from that incident.  After the previous breakup, he had met Mariana Cracogna. The two had been engaged, but the relationship ended when Cracogna left Saskatoon for work, leaving McLaughlin living in the house they’d shared.

That day, she came back to give back her engagement ring.

Accusing her of cheating on him, McLaughlin punched Cracogna several times in the face before throwing her down a flight of stairs and duct taping her hands and feet.  When McLaughlin left her there to go and move her vehicle into the garage, she was able to work free of the tape and get away, losing most of her clothes in the process. 

As she went to flee out the front door of the house, she ran into McLaughlin, who dragged her back inside and again threw her down the stairs before binding, gagging and putting her in the box of his pickup truck.

As he was driving out of the city, Cracogna was again able to work herself free.  She chipped her teeth using them to pop the latch on the truck’s box cover and then dove out of the truck when it stopped. But McLaughlin saw and was able to snatch her up and put her in the front seat.

A witness saw the escape attempt and called police. They had already been alerted to a possible situation by Cracogna’s family.  She’d warned them to check on her if she didn’t get in contact after going to see McLaughlin. 

As police were frantically trying to find them, McLaughlin drove out of the city, eventually stopping in the countryside.  There, he tried using a knife from inside the truck to slit Cracogna’s wrists.  The blade proved too dull, and he then tried to cut his own wrists.  When that didn’t work, he told Cracogna to stab him, then beat her further when she refused, in an effort to provoke her into killing him.

Finally, McLaughlin let Cracogna go and she was found on the side of the highway by a couple driving along.  Police found and arrested McLaughlin some time later.

Crown prosecutor Cory Bliss said that during the ordeal, Cracogna was certain she was going to die and only wished that McLaughlin would kill her somewhere where police would be able to find her body so that family and friends could have some closure.

Given an opportunity to speak, McLaughlin was too choked up to get words out, all that was audible was the word ‘sorry,’ spoken through tears. 

Bliss and McLaughlin’s defence lawyer made a joint submission asking for a sentence of six years. Judge Barry Morgan agreed, saying McLaughlin’s crimes “showed a prehistoric attitude to how women should be treated” before imposing the sentence.

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