Families of Paul Bernardo’s victims question serial killer’s prison transfer

WARNING: This story comprises distressing particulars.

The lawyer for the households of two of Paul Bernardo’s victims says they got no warning or clarification a few current jail switch that noticed the Ontario serial rapist and homicide moved from a most safety facility to a medium safety jail, a transfer they oppose.

Timothy Danson is the lawyer for the households of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, the teenagers who have been kidnapped, sexually assaulted, murdered and dismembered by Bernardo and his then spouse, Karla Homolka, within the early Nineties. Danson says the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) knowledgeable him by cellphone this week that Bernardo had already been moved from Millhaven Establishment in Kingston, Ont., to a medium safety jail in La Macaza, Que., about 200 km northwest of Montreal. 

“I had the duty of speaking this to the households, it is devastating to them. It takes them again, you understand,” stated Danson, noting that the households really feel dissatisfied and harm.

Bernardo, now 58, was convicted of first-degree homicide within the women’ deaths in 1995. He was additionally convicted of manslaughter within the 1990 loss of life of Homolka’s 15-year-old sister, Tammy. He was sentenced to life in jail with no probability of parole for the primary 25 years. Bernardo started his sentence on the Kingston Penitentiary, and when it was closed he was transferred to Millhaven.

Unhappiness, despair and disbelief for victims’ households

Danson says information of the switch means the households really feel victimized over again.

“This simply brings again all of the horrible recollections that they have been making an attempt to suppress and management over these final variety of many years. So it simply brings unhappiness and despair and disbelief to them.”

CSC normally doesn’t touch upon offender transfers, however in a press release to CBC, Kevin Antonucci, the performing senior communications advisor, confirmed that Bernardo, 58, had been transferred.

Antonucci additionally assured the general public “that this offender continues to be incarcerated in a safe establishment, with applicable safety perimeters and controls in place.”

Bernardo utilized for parole twice, as soon as in 2018 and once more in 2021. He was denied each instances. 

Danson says CSC informing him of Bernardo’s switch after the very fact isn’t a surprise.

“What was extra disturbing is that once I was asking questions on why they have been making this switch and on what foundation, they relied on Bernardo’s privateness rights to not disclose that info, which I discover unacceptable.”

Households demand better transparency, lawyer says

Danson says he and the French and Mahaffy households are demanding better transparency from the corrections system because the administration of justice is within the public curiosity.

“You recognize, Paul Bernardo was designated a harmful offender along with being convicted for the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment,” he stated. “The dearth of transparency is strictly how we create suspicion and cynicism in most of the people when it comes to our legal justice system.”

Mahaffy of Burlington, Ont., was 14 in June 1991 when Bernardo and Homolka tortured and killed her at their Port Dalhousie residence. French, of St. Catharines, Ont., was 15 when she was held captive for 3 days and killed in April 1992. 

Bernardo was additionally convicted of manslaughter within the 1990 loss of life of Tammy Homolka, Karla Homolka’s 15-year-old sister. In December 1990, she was drugged, sexually assaulted and died. 

Karla Homolka was launched in 2005 after pleading responsible to manslaughter and serving 12 years in jail.

Danson says the households would love to know why the corrections system would decide that Bernardo was eligible to be transferred to a medium safety establishment after he was declared a harmful offender and twice turned down for parole.

“As a part of his punishment, he needs to be serving that point in a most safety federal penitentiary,” stated Danson.

John Rosen, Bernardo’s former lawyer, advised CBC he now not represents Bernardo and stated that to his data, he has no authorized illustration.