MANDEL: Killer Paul Bernardo tortures families with parole bid

[spaminator]

MANDEL: Killer Paul Bernardo tortures families with parole bid
Michele Mandel
Published:
October 16, 2018
Updated:
October 16, 2018 8:16 PM EDT
Paul Bernardo is shown in this courtroom sketch during Ontario court proceedings via video link in Napanee, Ont., on October 5, 2018.(Greg Banning/Canadian Press)
Not enough that Paul Bernardo tortured, raped and murdered their daughters more than 25 years ago.
Now the serial killer and serial rapist stands ready to inflict new pain on the Mahaffy and French families with his scheduled appearance Wednesday morning in his first bid toward freedom before a parole board.
They will have to come face to face with the man who has haunted their dreams for more than a quarter of a century.
And unfortunately for his victims, this parole hearing is destined to be the first of many, many attempts in the years ahead as the sadistic killer can re-apply as often as he wishes.
Bernardo served notice as far back as 2015 that he wanted to seek day parole in Toronto. But after the families would steel their emotions and make their travel arrangements, he would always cancel.
“We’ve had six false alarms,” their lawyer Tim Danson said in a previous interview. “It’s just gut wrenching for the families.”
And there’s certainly no accommodation for their schedule.
After Doug and Donna French planned and paid for a spring vacation, Danson had asked that a parole hearing not be scheduled during their 10 days away.
“The best I could get was ‘Thank you, we will take your request under consideration,’” he said in exasperation.
“They just pay lip service to victims.”
Once again, they have written their victim impact statements and booked their hotel rooms near the Bath Institution.
After so many false starts, Bernardo seems ready to carry through with his cruel attempt — though as the notice says from the parole board, “the offenders have the option of waiving their right to a hearing or postponing the hearing even up to the last minute.”
Now 54, Bernardo was sentenced to life with no chance of parole for 25 years for raping and murdering teens Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French, crimes he would try to pin on his then wife, Karla Homolka. His lawyer insists he’s changed.
“The fact is, over the last 25 years he has experienced personal growth, he has at times seemed to blame others, seemed to be burdened down by his own guilt, but I expect that he will take full responsibility, express remorse, I can only say he appears to be sincere in that,” Fergus O’Connor told reporters earlier this month.
“He’s as horrified as you and I are at what he did.”
O’Connor previewed his parole board argument outside the Napanee courthouse on Oct. 5 after the Crown dropped a homemade weapon charge against Bernardo.
That’s at least one prison charge we now know about. We’re not allowed to know if there are others.
The families have been denied access to Bernardo’s institutional records; They’ve been told by the Correctional Service of Canada that it will violate his privacy rights.
“It’s nonsense,” Danson said. “The public has a full right to know if he wants to be released into society.”
The prevailing wisdom is that the multiple murderer will remain in maximum security for the rest of his sorry life, especially as Bernardo was also designated a dangerous offender for sexually assaulting 14 women as the Scarborough Rapist before he escalated to murder.
Still, Bernardo thinks he deserves a chance – a chance he never gave to the young girls he sadistically tortured and murdered. It’s now all about whether the master manipulator can convince the parole board that he’s no longer the monster he used to be.
“He’s worked on his self-improvement, self-awareness for 25 years. He’s been on good behaviour and in due course, he’ll be going before the parole board and their decision will not be how much he should suffer, but does he present a risk in the future?” O’Connor explained.
Linda Beaudoin, an activist from Mississauga, protests protective custody given to Paul Bernardo, before he appeared in court via video-link to face a weapons charge in Napanee, Ont., on Friday, October 5, (Steph Crosier/Postmedia Network)
“The issue is not just desserts; the issue is risk. The parole board of Canada will assess his risk based on all factors. They’ll consider his crimes but they’ll also consider the fact that he’s now in his mid-50s, committed his crimes in his mid 20s, he’s been of good behaviour and he’s gotten certain support in the community.”
Does Bernardo really think he’ll see the light of day?
“He’s realistic,” his lawyer said.
Danson has a different take. “This is all pure entertainment for Paul Bernardo.”
And all at the expense of the families he continues to torture.
mmandel@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mandel-killer-paul-bernardo-tortures-families-with-parole-bid

 

[Walter]

Cut his balls off and ram them down his throat till he chokes to death, then kill him.

 

[MHz]

Cut his balls off and ram them down his throat till he chokes to death, then kill him.

Can we practice on you to make sure it works, pretty please. Have a grieving relative that has no real future take him out and then turn himself in. Crimes of passion create unstable juries.

 

[Walter]

Rent free.

 

[MHz]

Can we practice on you to make sure it works, pretty please. Have a grieving relative that has no real future take him out and then turn himself in. Crimes of passion create unstable juries.

Walnut, I was just kidding, I know you don't have any real balls.

 

[spaminator]

Killer Paul Bernardo denied parole
Sam Pazzano Courts Bureau
Published:
October 17, 2018
Updated:
October 17, 2018 10:15 PM EDT
The mothers of two young girls murdered by Paul Bernardo made impassioned pleas to his parole board hearing Wednesday to lock up the dangerous offender forever.
Their pleas were answered swiftly as the parole board denied Bernardo’s requests for either day or full parole after less than 30 minutes of deliberations.
“We have had to relive Leslie’s pain and horror — our pain and horror, as if it happened yesterday, not 27 years ago,” said Debbie Mahaffy, the anguished mom of Leslie Mahaffy.
“Leslie’s violent, horrific death changed everything in my psyche and in my life,” said Mahaffy.
“I do not want to be in the same room as Bernardo but here I am.
“The effect of this parole hearing allows Bernardo to abduct our beautiful memories of Leslie as he had inserted himself and the ugliness of her death into our lives yet again.”
Paul Bernardo is shown in this courtroom sketch during Ontario court proceedings via video link in Napanee, Ont., on October 5, 2018.(Greg Banning/Canadian Press)
Bernardo’s heinous crimes “created such irreversible chaos in my life that I lost my teaching career and three other full-time positions and the personal rewards and financial benefits they provided to me,” said Mahaffy, who was 40 when her daughter was abducted, tortured and killed.
“Paul Bernardo is effectively getting a free pass for murdering Kristen French because his parole ineligibility period remains 25 years. It cheaps life. It is wrong,” Mahaffy told the board.
New laws enable judges to impose consecutive parole ineligibility periods for multiple murders, but Bernardo was sentenced under the old regime, noted Mahaffy.
She quoted Justice Patrick LeSage — who presided over both Bernardo’s murder trial and dangerous offender hearing — who told the serial killer, “You have no right ever to be released.
“The behavioural restraint that you require is jail . . . for the rest of your natural life. You are a sexually-sadistic psychopath. The likelihood of you being treated is remote in the extreme,” said Mahaffy, reiterating LeSage’s judgment in November 1995.
Kristen French, left, and Leslie Mahaffy were murdered by Paul Bernardo.Bernardo, who was the only known Canadian offender to consent to being declared a dangerous offender, should also be denied parole for that reason as well, said Mahaffy.
Donna French, the mother of Kristen who was abducted by both Bernardo and his wife Karla Homolka before being tortured, sexually abused and murdered, agreed with Mahaffy’s eloquent views that Bernardo posed an extreme risk to the public and must remain imprisoned for life.
“It’s painfully unthinkable that Paul Bernardo’s parole ineligibility did not change by a single second, a single minute as a result of his unspeakable murder of Kristen,” said French.
“It so diminishes her life. I appreciate that the Criminal Code has been amended to lengthen the parole period, but it is not retroactive.”
When Bernardo consented to the declaration and its indeterminate sentence in Nov. 1995, Bernardo pleaded guilty to a slate of rapes in Scarborough and St. Catharines, as well as the manslaughter of Tammy Homolka.
Bernardo was already serving his life sentence for the first-degree murders of Mahaffy, 14, and French, 15.
As a result, the dangerous offender declaration didn’t change his parole eligibility.
Dangerous offenders can seek release on parole seven years after the date of their offences, but Bernardo was prohibited from doing so because of his murder sentence.
Bernardo, now 54, was eligible to pursue full parole since February 2018 — the 25th anniversary of his arrest date.
spazzano@postmedia.com
Victim Impact Statement of … by on Scribd
Victim Impact Statement of Donna French by CynthiaMcLeodSun on Scribd

http://scribd.com/document/391058517/Victim-Impact-Statement-of-Debbie-Mahaffy#from_embed
http://scribd.com/document/391059162/Victim-Impact-Statement-of-Donna-French#from_embed
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/keep-paul-bernardo-locked-up-victims-moms

 

[spaminator]

MANDEL: Spare us the crocodile tears of a psychopath
Michele Mandel
Published:
October 17, 2018
Updated:
October 17, 2018 10:17 PM EDT
BATH, Ont. — He tried so hard to cry — but it’s not easy when you have to fake it.
Serial rapist and killer Paul Bernardo came before the Parole Board of Canada and tried to convince the two member panel that after 25 years in solitary, he’s now a changed man — deeply sorry for his heinous crimes.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for the board to see through the psychopath’s crocodile tears.
For the next two years at least, the sadistic lifer poses an “undue risk” to the public and will remain where he belongs – behind bars.
For someone supposedly so remorseful, dabbing at his eyes after the heart-wrenching victim impact statements delivered by the mothers of the girls he raped, tortured and killed, Bernardo never did attempt to apologize for his reign of terror.
Instead, the 54-year-old spouted a lot of psychobabble he’s obviously picked up during his counselling over the last few years at Millhaven Pen.
“My problem with offending was a self-esteem issue. I offended to raise my self-esteem because it was so low.” he explained over and over again.
Seriously? He’s blaming low self-esteem for his vicious, violent attacks on at least 14 women as the Scarborough rapist and the kidnapping, rape and murders of Leslie Mahaffy, 14, and Kristen French, 15?
He had more excuses as well.
Bernardo also blamed his poor communication skills — he was tongue-tied as a child — and being bullied.
Or maybe it was his OCD.
Or his “sexual performance anxiety.”
Paul Bernardo, left, and Karla Homolka on their June 1991 wedding day. (Postmedia file)
Sure, Bernardo did well at school, graduated as an accountant, was blond and handsome and claimed to have bedded either 300 – or 60 – women.
But the poor guy always felt inadequate. His dad used to make annoying sounds due to a medical condition. His mother was controlling. His bike was stolen. He was once slammed into the lockers.
It was a self-pity party that left board member Suzanne Poirier unimpressed.
“I don’t think I buy what you’re saying,” she said.
“You had quite a privileged upbringing.”
Bernardo appeared nervous and unkempt as he sat hunched in his blue T-shirt at the table beside his lawyer Fergus O’Connor. Observers, including mothers Donna French and Debbie Mahaffy, sat behind him so they didn’t have to face the man who killed their daughters.
Yet he dared to talk about his own suffering.
“It’s really hard for me to deal with,” Bernardo said.
He once believed he had “justifications” for why he went hunting for vulnerable females to satisfy his twisted sexual urges. He thought his “distress” allowed him to do whatever he wanted to them.
“I was callous, I lacked empathy for the victims at the time because I had justifications,” the killer admitted
But that’s all changed now.
He’s shed these “justifications” and can finally take responsibility.
“What I did was horrific,” he insisted, as if by rote.
“Emotionally, it devastates me what I did in the past. I cry all the time.”
He cries “every day,” he said. Did he mention how much he cries? “It hurts because I did horrible things,” he sniffled.
“Your empathy,” said the wise Poirier, “seems very recent.”
The families were equally dubious.
“Psychopaths are incapable of empathy or remorse,” said lawyer Tim Danson, who represents the French and Mahaffy families.
Bernardo was obviously saying what he thought the parole board wanted to hear, shedding a few forced tears when he thought the timing was appropriate.
It was utterly unconvincing.
He was challenged at every turn. If he no longer objectifies women, why did he itemize the bra sizes of his victims – even those of the two schoolgirls he killed.
And what’s this about his short-lived 2014 romance?
Poirier said the diagnosed sexual sadist had admitted still having dangerous sexual fantasies about the unnamed woman and even thought getting married would help his bid for conditional release. She accused Bernardo of still being as cunning and manipulative as ever.
Unclear was whether Bernardo had actually been allowed a conjugal visit with this girlfriend. We’re not allowed to know. It would violate his privacy rights.
How outrageous is that?
What we do know is that Bernardo’s feeble attempt at impersonating a real human being fooled no one and back into his hole he goes.
The problem is that he has another few years to rehearse his next try.
mmandel@postmedia.com
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/mandel-spare-us-the-crocodile-tears-of-a-psychopath