Bernardo to seek parole, lawyer says
NAPANEE, ONT .• A minor weapon charge against notorious killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo was withdrawn on Friday almost two weeks before an expected parole hearing at which the dangerous offender will plead for release having spent more than 25 years behind bars.
The prosecution said there was no reasonable prospect of convicting Bernardo of having a “shank” in his maximum-security cell — a five-centimetre deck screw attached to a ballpoint pen his lawyer suggested was planted either by other inmates or guards.
“As you know, he’s reviled not by just people out of jail but by people in jail,” Fergus (Chip) O’Connor said outside court. “He had no knowledge of it being there. There were many opportunities for many other people to have placed it there.”
Bernardo watched the short Ontario court proceedings via video link. He showed little outward emotion and politely answered brief questions as O’Connor began making what will likely be his parole pitch.
His client, he said, has been of good behaviour in “very hard conditions of confinement” and has the support of his parents. Bernardo, O’Connor said, has made a “determined effort not to make up for what he’s done — for that can never be done — but to improve himself.”
Also known as the “Scarborough rapist,” the now 54-year-old Bernardo was convicted in 1995 of the firstdegree murders of two teen girls and numerous sex assaults. He was labelled a dangerous offender and was not eligible for parole until he had served 25 years since his arrest in early 1993.
Despite becoming eligible for day parole in February, he has never been out, spending almost all his time in protective custody or solitary confinement at an institution in Bath, Ont.
O’Connor said Bernardo was realistic about his prospects of gaining parole after his hearing on Oct. 17. “He’s as horrified as you and I are at what he did. The fact is he has over the 25 years experienced personal growth, he has at times seemed to blame others, burdened down by his own guilt,” O’Connor said outside court. “I expect that he will take full responsibility, express remorse, and he
I EXPECT THAT HE WILL TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY, EXPRESS REMORSE, AND HE APPEARS TO BE SINCERE IN THAT.
appears to be sincere in that.”
O’Connor said Bernardo has been paying for his “horrific” crimes, and the parole board will have to look at what has happened since his client’s arrest in early 1993.
“Their decision will be not how much he should suffer, but does he present a risk,” O’Connor said.
Bernardo’s sadistic sex crimes, some of which he videotaped, sparked widespread terror and revulsion.
He kidnapped, tortured and killed Leslie Mahaffy, 14, of Burlington, Ont., in June 1991. He then tortured and killed Kristen French, 15, of St. Catharines, Ont., in April 1992 after keeping her captive for three days.
Bernardo’s then-wife, Karla Homolka, served 12 years until 2005 after pleading guilty to manslaughter in what critics branded as a “deal with the devil.”