Parole denied for Langley man who attacked wife, stepdaughter
Decision says Andre Harvey Richard would present an ‘undue’ risk to the public
A Langley man who attacked his wife and stepdaughter before setting their home on fire has been denied parole.
If released from prison, Andre Harvey Richard would present an “undue” risk to the public, according to a recent Parole Board of Canada decision.
He is serving an eight-year sentence for arson, break and enter and two counts of aggravated assault.
Early in the morning on April 2, 2014, a day after he received divorce papers from his wife, Richard broke into the family’s home armed with a rubber-headed mallet and drywall saw.
The couple argued and he struck his wife first with his fists and then with the mallet and saw.
When his stepdaughter tried to intervene, he struck her with the saw and then punched her.
The attack stopped when the girl hit the panic button on the home’s alarm system.
The parole decision said that after the alarm sounded, Richard went downstairs and poured accelerant on the floor before lighting it on fire.
His seven-year-old son was also home.
The family was able to escape to a neighbour’s house. Richard’s ex-wife had a punctured lung and cuts to her neck, ear, forehead, arms and left hand.
Her daughter was treated for cuts to her chest and head.
Richard was arrested the next day near Invermere after someone called police after spotting an erratic driver.
At the time of the crime, Richard was on bail after being arrested for allegedly assaulting his seven-yearold son.
One of his bail conditions was to stay away from his wife and kids.
At his sentencing, Judge Peder Gulbransen determined Richard “did not act under a sudden and uncontrollable impulse, but rather in a cool and calculated rage aimed directly at his wife.
“The court must denounce the horrific nature of these crimes. Domestic violence is a scourge on our society and the court must through its sentence do what it can to express society’s revulsion for it.”
According to the parole decision, there was also a “long history of domestic violence in the home,” with several reports indicating Richard had been physically and emotionally abusing his wife and children for several years.
A victim impact statement read at the hearing said his ex-wife and kids “live in fear that you will hurt them if released.”
The parole board decision also noted Richard witnessed domestic violence as a kid and his father had problems with substance abuse before abandoning his family.
Richard was kicked out of his home as a teenager because his mother feared him.
Although Richard participated in prison programs, the parole board determined he needed to “accomplish further rehabilitative work and develop further insight into (his) long-standing anger-management issues and deeply rooted domestic violence tendencies.”