Bernardo denied parole

Convicted killer-rapist tells hearing being in prison is ‘hard’ and that his ‘criminal behaviour was absolutely horrific’

BATH, ONT. — Serial sex killer Paul Bernardo — who says he cries every day in prison — shed no tears as the Parole Board of Canada denied his first request for freedom.

Bernardo, perhaps Canada’s most reviled criminal, displayed no emotion Wednesday when he was told his applications for both day and full parole were denied. That ensures he will remain locked up for at least two more years — but quite possibly forever — as one of Canada’s 747 people designated as a Dangerous Offender (DO).

The board’s swift and succinct decision — made in just 30 minutes — was a massive relief for the families of his teenaged murder victims, Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French. The families endured a day locked in a small hearing room at Millhaven Institution with the man who vid-

eotaped himself raping and torturing their daughters before killing them.

While Leslie’s family was determined to represent her memory at the hearing, reliving the horror “has been gut wrenching,” her mother Debbie Mahaffy told the hearing.

Pausing for her tears, Debbie called her family’s pain “crushing and debilitating” and said the hearing has undone the healing they have worked so hard to achieve.

Their marriage split up following the murder and Debbie has had difficulty keeping a job because of the PTSD she suffers.

Any healing the family has managed “has been ripped apart, just as she (Leslie) was by Bernardo,” Debbie said. The hearing “allows Bernardo to abduct our beautiful memories of Leslie.”

At this point, Bernardo’s lawyer, seated beside him, passed his client a tissue. Bernardo dabbed at his cheeks and nose.

Bernardo raped, tortured and killed Leslie, 14, in June 1991 at his Port Dalhousie home, then dismembered her and encased her remains in blocks of cement which he threw into Lake Gibson in Thorold.

He kept Kristen, 15, captive for three days in April 1992, repeatedly raping her before torturing and killing her.

He was found guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, forcible confinement, aggravated sexual assault and one count of committing an indignity to a human body.

Bernardo has always maintained that while he raped Kristen and Leslie, it was his wife, Karla Homolka, who killed them.

Not once during the hearing did Bernardo say he killed the girls. Nor did he directly apologize to their families.

Debbie said Bernardo got “a free pass for murdering Kristen French” because he did so before offenders convicted of first-degree murder could be handed consecutive life sentences, as they can now.

“His parole eligibility did not change by a single second by taking Kristen’s life,” agreed Kristen’s mother, Donna French.

“Bernardo has never accepted responsibility,” she said, “never expressed remorse.”

In the past, Bernardo has also admitted to 24 rapes as the Scarborough Rapist, and the manslaughter and rape of Tammie Homolka, the 15year-old sister of Karla.

The Mahaffy and French families were joined in the hearing room by a woman raped by Bernardo in Scarborough.

She was walking home from Tim Hortons on May 30, 1988, and passed Bernardo as he stood by a bus stop. He asked if she wanted to smoke pot and she continued walking.

He jumped her from behind and pulled her into the trees where he raped her.

For years after she was “either crying or completely switched off,” she says.

“I thought all I was good for was sex.”

As a mother now, she is terrified for her child’s safety.

This hearing marked the first time any of Bernardo’s victims or their families had been in a room with him since he was handed an indeterminate sentence as a DO 23 years ago. He became eligible for day parole in February 2015 and full parole in February of this year. But as a DO, it is very likely he will never be allowed out. He is eligible for another parole hearing in 2020.

Bernardo’s own parents, whom the hearing has heard visit him frequently, did not attend his hearing.

About 30 members of the media watched the hearing on a closedcircuit TV screen in a room next door at medium security Bath Institution.

Bernardo, wearing a bright blue T-shirt, is 54 now. He has a pot belly and the same tousled hair many of us remember. He slumped slightly in his seat and waved his hands around as he spoke in long, rambling sentences that seldom made sense and were frequently peppered with big words he misused.

Bernardo repeatedly told the board he cries daily.

“I’m devastated and I cry all the time,” he said.

But it was unclear if he was crying out of remorse for his victims or if he weeps for himself.

“My criminal behaviour was horrific. Absolutely devastating to the victims at the highest level,” Bernardo told the board at one point.

Then, at another point, he said: “Being me, in prison, is hard. I have nobody … I wake up every day and I’m so nice to everybody. I’m compassionate and caring.”

“I’ve been in solitary confinement for 25 years. I don’t have human contact. And when I do, it’s degrading.”

Observers at the hearing did, however, learn that Bernardo was involved in some sort of romantic relationship a few years ago. A woman, who wasn’t identified, came to visit him and became his best friend.

There was a hint that she became more than that, although Correctional Services Canada wouldn’t confirm if Bernardo had conjugal visits with the woman. A spokesperson would say that lifers like Bernardo can be eligible for such visits.

What we do know is that he had sexual fantasies about the woman, which he shared with prison therapists.

Bernardo explained that low selfesteem caused by a childhood speech impediment led him down the path to becoming Canada’s most notorious serial sex killer. He desired “power and control.”

He was born “tongue-tied” and people couldn’t understand him until the condition was fixed at age seven after a medical procedure and therapy. He said that early childhood blow to his self-esteem led him to try to “boost” it later by forcing girls and women to perform sex acts on him.

“My problem with offending was a self-esteem issue … I didn’t go out with the intent to hurt (my victims) at all … If they didn’t do what I wanted them to do, then I would punish them.”

But he said his arrest — after an investigation by an unprecedented, massive provincial task force — was “a wake-up call.”

Now, his self-esteem is no longer a risk factor and he will never reoffend, Bernardo assured the two parole board members he sat facing. But he also admitted to describing each of his victims recently by their bra size, a fact documented by prison officials.

“People are scared. And there’s no reason to be scared. Not about me”

Bernardo’s parole officer, seated beside him at the hearing, said Correctional Services Canada was not recommending parole. A psychiatric assessment puts Bernardo at high risk for sexually violent behaviour.

Bernardo was asking the parole board to release him to a federal Community Correctional Centre — essentially a halfway house — located on the grounds of Collins Bay Institution, a prison in Kingston.

The parole board offered no explanation today as to why his request was denied but will release a detailed written decision soon.

After the hearing, some of the family members and their lawyer, Tim Danson, addressed the media.

Danson was highly critical of the lack of transparency in the corrections and parole systems. Bernardo’s institutional and psychological records are unavailable to his victims, their families and the public.

The serial killer’s privacy is paramount and yet it is the public’s safety that is at risk.

For now, at least, the public is safe. And Bernardo can continue to have 24 hours of alone time to think about what he did.

“I wake up most days and I can’t believe I did it,” he said. “The pain, the nightmare. It’s been really hard.”

“I’ve been in solitary confinement for 25 years. I don’t have human contact. And when I do, it’s degrading.”

PAUL BERNARDO

Serial killer and rapist