Case of Paul Bernardo raises questions about parole proceedings

Do “privacy concerns” of a convicted rapist and serial killer outweigh the rights of the victims? The lawyer representing the Mahaffy and French families is calling on the federal government to make legislative changes following Paul Bernardo’s parole hearing.

“He’s one of the worst offenders we have known in the Hamilton, Halton, Niagara area … forever. One of the worst.”

Halton Police Chief Steve Tanner was an investigator in Burlington at the time of the murders of Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. He’s glad the parole hearing ended the way it did but says changes need to be made.

“To put the family and the mothers of Leslie and Kristen through that again, to do victim impact statements, it doesn’t really seem to be a fair process does it?”

The lawyer representing the Mahaffy and French families raised other concerns, like the fact that Bernardo’s psych reports are not available to the victims or the public and the lack of transparency at at the hearing.

“Even though this was a public hearing, neither I, the victims, the media are entitled to get a transcript of it because of Paul Bernardo’s privacy rights.”

Through the hearing CHCH learned that Bernardo had a romantic relationship just 4 years ago. He spoke to his prison psychologists at the time about his sexual fantasies, too graphic to repeat. Bernardo said this woman came to visit him.

When Corrections canada were asked if the serial killer had conjugal visits they said they are not allowed to provide that information.

Bernardo’s parole eligibility will be reviewed every two years. Holly Knowles of the Parole Board of Canada says, “Its part of our system it makes sense to be continuously be assessing an offenders risk and be looking at what kind of risk they present to the community and whether or not they can be safely re-intrigrated.”

But that means the victim’s families will be back to relive the horrors again and again.

Donna French read her victim impact statement behind Bernardo yesterday, highlighting the devastating blow of this parole hearing.

“It is painfully unthinkable to me that Bernardo’s parole eligibility did not change by a single second, a single minute, a single day as a result of his brutal and unspeakable murder of Kristen. It so diminishes Kristen’s life.”

The past Federal Government ammended the Criminal Code to lengthen parole eligibility and provide the option of concurrent sentences but the legislation was not retroactive.

The family lawyer, Tim Danson, says there has to be a different treatment for those convicted of first degree murder with a life sentence and will call on the Federal Government to make changes to the 2 year review process.

CHCH asked the Minister of Public Safety for a comment today and his office responded with this:

As the courts have ruled several times, including in the supreme court’s whaling decision in 2014, the retroactive application of changes to sentencing and parole regimes is prohibited by the constitution. The parole regime can only be changed for new convictions, not for those who are already serving their sentence.

They add that Canadians remain appalled and horrified by the actions of Paul Bernardo and that they can’t imagine what the families and victims have endured.