Killer gives emotional account
REGINA — The testimony was riveting and packed with emotion as a convicted murderer took the witness stand at his Regina faint hope hearing.
As the defence opened its case Wednesday, its first witness, Lyle Bernard Bellegarde, stepped into the witness box — just as he did almost 17 years ago in the same courtroom, when he was convicted of first-degree murder in the beating death of 26-year-old Fotios Frank Barlas.
Bellegarde spoke for four and a half hours. His testimony reduced members of the Barlas family and his own family to tears. One juror could also be seen wiping at her eyes.
Because of a publication ban imposed by Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Fred Kovach, none of the testimony Bellegarde gave at the hearing can be reported at this time.
Bellegarde, who has now served 18 years of his life sentence, has applied for judicial review — better known as a faint hope application — asking a jury to reduce his parole eligibility date. At present, he can seek full parole in July 2021 — 25 years after he was arrested for killing Barlas.
Even if the jury allows the 43-year-old the opportunity to apply for parole sooner, the final say on release remains with the Parole Board of Canada.
Under such an application, the jury will consider Bellegarde’s character, his conduct in prison, the offence, and its impact.
Barlas’s body was found on the Little Black Bear First Nation on July 4, 1996 — three days after he was killed. His burnt-out truck was discovered about one and a half kilometres away. Barlas was co-owner of Frankie and Johnny’s Restaurant in Indian Head, where the other owner arrived on July 2 to find $160 cash and five bottles of liquor missing, but no signs of forced entry.
The Crown’s theory — based on disclosures Bellegarde made to relatives and ministers — was that Barlas was killed in the course of an unlawful confinement.
Bellegarde and his cousin were convicted of murder; a third man was acquitted.
Correctional worker Tracey Robinson, who compiled a report of Bellegarde’s history before and after prison, noted his remorse for the murder is a common theme in his prison records. He told one psychologist he wanted to some day visit a memorial erected to Barlas.
The report also notes that Bellegarde suffered physical and sexual abuse at an early age, witnessed substance abuse while growing up, and turned to drugs and alcohol himself by age 12. He also turned to crime, amassing a record of 25 previous offences, almost all for property crimes. He never served penitentiary time until his life sentence.
Although he struggled with substance abuse before and after going to prison and once belonged to the Warriors gang at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary, the report notes his drug tests have been clean since June 2008 and he left the gang life years ago.
Bellegarde, currently in a minimum security healing lodge, has successfully completed all his required courses.
The report says it’s doubtful there is much rehabilitation benefit to be gained by keeping him in prison for another 10 years.