Bernardo set for parole bid today
Murderer and rapist will plead for release after 25 years in prison
Paul Bernardo, whose very name became synonymous with sadistic sexual perversion, is expected to plead for release today by arguing he has done what he could to improve himself during his 25 years in prison, mostly in solitary confinement.
Designated a dangerous offender, Bernardo, 54, became eligible for parole in February but has so far not been allowed beyond the confines of his maximum security prison in eastern Ontario.
Bernardo’s parole hearing at the Bath Institution is expected to attract numerous observers, most of whom will have to watch via a videolink.
The hearing also comes almost two weeks after the prosecution withdrew a weapon-possession charge against him related to the discovery of a screw attached to a ballpoint pen handle in his cell.
Defence lawyer Fergus (Chip) O’Connor did not respond Tuesday to a request to discuss his client’s bid for freedom.
However, at the aborted weapon trial this month, he outlined the pitch Bernardo was expected to make to the National Parole Board panel.
“He’s as horrified as you and I are at what he did,” O’Connor said.
“I expect that he will take full responsibility, express remorse, and he appears to be sincere in that.”
While isolation has limited available programming, Bernardo has made a “determined effort not to make up for what he’s done — for that can never be done — but to improve himself” and has been of good behaviour in “very hard conditions” of confinement, O’Connor said.
Bernardo’s crimes over several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some of which he videotaped, sparked widespread terror and revulsion.