Helicopter escape inmate gets 35 years for murders

Hudon-Barbeau found guilty of ordering two killings, attempting to slay two others

Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau, infamous in Quebec for his spectacular prison escape by helicopter, was sentenced to a rare punishment in the province’s history.

Quebec Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 35 years at the St-Jérôme courthouse Wednesday morning, for having ordered two murders and two attempted murders.

Hudon-Barbeau, 41, made headlines in 2013 when he orchestrated his helicopter escape from the StJérôme prison; pictures of the escape, showing him hanging onto a rope, circulated around the world. He was quickly found by the police in a cottage with some of his accomplices.

In this case, he was convicted by a jury on Nov. 17 of two murders and two attempted murders committed in the fall of 2012. Evidence has shown that he used a hit man named Ryan Wolfson to carry out the attacks. The latter was found guilty of killing two men and trying to kill two others. He was, however, released for one of the murders after his lawyer argued unreasonable delays in the criminal proceedings on the basis of the Jordan Supreme Court decision.

Judge Charbonneau wrote in a 51-page ruling that there was little prospect of rehabilitation for Hudon-Barbeau. Short, medium and even long-term rehabilitation was “quasi-nonexistent,” she said.

There’s an important risk of recidivism, she noted, adding that the man was motivated by “a desire for revenge and the lure of gain.”

He chose to “settle his accounts in blood” barely nine months after leaving prison, she said.

The judge described his personality as being close to that of a psychopath.

“He is extremely manipulative, violent and narcissistic, coupled with his lack of recognition and responsibility, his repeated tendency to blame others for his actions, his lack of introspection and morals, make him very dangerous for society,” she wrote.

Hudon-Barbeau was already serving a 16-year sentence for his air escape.

The Canadian Press, Cogeco News