Paul Bernardo denied parole after victims’ families plead he be kept behind bars

Notorious killer and rapist Paul Bernardo has been denied parole for a third time after the families of his victims made an emotional plea to the Parole Board of Canada on Tuesday to keep him behind bars.

The parole board noted that while Bernardo has made some progress, there is still significant concern about his risk of sexual recidivism, his narcissistic personality and the results of his clinical assessments, among other issues.

The two-member panel, which deliberated for approximately 30 minutes after Tuesday’s hearing, said its decision also considered the “extremely violent” and serial nature of Bernardo’s crimes and his designation as a dangerous offender.

Bernardo is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.

The 60-year-old told the board he was primarily seeking day parole at a halfway house, or at a minimum, escorted absences from prison so that he can attend a community program for sex offenders. The board denied both.

The victims’ families made an impassioned case against Bernardo’s bid for release, and said they have been re-traumatized every time his parole hearings come up.

“The biggest destruction of the peace and joy and hope in my life has been and remains Bernardo,” Leslie’s mother, Debbie Mahaffy, told the parole board hearing at the La Macaza Institution in Quebec, where Bernardo is currently held.

“I remain hopeful that you understand the sadistic, manipulative and psychopathic nature of Bernardo’s behaviour and the endless threat he represents to public safety,” she said.

Mahaffy, who spoke of her struggle to forget “the horrors of Leslie’s death,” was overcome by emotion as she delivered her victim impact statement.

Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the French and Mahaffy families, finished reading the statement on her behalf, urging the board to deny Bernardo any type of release due to the heinousness of his crimes and his lack of remorse.

Bernardo was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of his then-wife Karla Homolka’s 15-year-old sister, Tammy. He ultimately admitted to raping other girls and women, beginning in the late 1980s.

Homolka served 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter for her role in the crimes against Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy.

Kristen’s mother, Donna French, who delivered her victim impact statement remotely, spoke of the “senseless and brutal” loss her family has endured for decades.

“It has been more than 32 years since my daughter, Kristen, was abducted, sexually assaulted, beaten to within an inch of her young life, tormented, humiliated and murdered, then dumped by the side of a road like a piece of trash,” she said.

“They say that time heals but I don’t for a minute believe that, for I have not healed.”

Danson had previously said that because the parole board initially denied his clients the right to attend Bernardo’s hearing in person, a last-minute reversal of that decision meant that Donna French was unable to travel to Quebec on Tuesday.

The parole board also heard, via video conference, from other members of the French family and Leslie’s brother Ryan Mahaffy.

Mahaffy, who was seven years old at the time of his sister’s murder, said Bernardo didn’t just steal his “mentor and best friend” – he also stole his parents.

“As a child, I lost one of the largest parts of my world and to my mother and father’s own grief, I lost them,” said Mahaffy, whose gut-wrenching victim impact statement prompted a brief pause in the hearing.

He told the board that the “perpetual hell Bernardo bestowed upon my family” gave him nightmares as a child and left him struggling with interpersonal relationships as an adult.

He said that when he became a father, he and his partner “agonized” over what to name their kids.

“We wanted to honour Leslie by name but couldn’t, for fear of what they will find when they or others Googled their names,” he said. “Bernardo’s actions haunt the simplest details of my life, including Father’s Day, the day he murdered her.”

Bernardo was transferred to the medium-security La Macaza Institution from a maximum-security Ontario prison last year, in a decision that caused public outcry.

Bernardo’s parole officer told the hearing that he has “adjusted well” since his arrival at La Macaza but he is “overestimating his progress while underestimating the risk he presents.”

The board heard that the Correctional Service of Canada did not support releasing Bernardo on parole and believed he hadn’t met all the criteria for escorted or unescorted temporary absences from prison.

Under questioning by the two board members, Bernardo said he believed he was ready to gradually step back into society, get “more help” and ultimately find employment and a place to live. He said he would stay in Quebec if granted parole and was planning to soon start taking French lessons in prison.

Bernardo suggested that he has gained clarity and introspection since arriving at La Macaza.

He showed no visible emotion as he discussed his crimes and victims at the hearing, but choked up at times as he discussed his mother and the sexual abuse he said she endured in her own life.

He told the parole board that he began committing sexual offences as a way to exact “revenge” for his mother’s suffering, and for the pain he felt after his father rejected him for not being his biological son.

When the parole board questioned how victimizing girls and women could be seen as revenge in his case, Bernardo said he wanted to “pay the world back.”

“I became a sexual sadist, there’s no doubt about that,” he said, adding that while he has “no excuse” for his crimes, he had adopted a “victim stance” as a result of his difficult childhood and teenage years.

The parole board pointed out that many people face adversity in their early years but they don’t become sexual offenders and killers.

The board is expected to release detailed, written reasons for its decision within 15 days.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 26, 2024.

Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press