Homolka tries to stop media coverage

Saying the media have fed the public's vengeful desire to kill her, Karla Homolka is asking Quebec Superior Court to order journalists to leave her alone once she's released from prison.

The motion, filed yesterday and to be heard today, says that Homolka wants to live just like any ordinary citizen and not be hounded "like an animal."

But lawyers representing the 11 media outlets named in the motion say they will fight the order, arguing for freedom of expression and the public's right to know.

"I'm not suggesting that every single detail of her private life be reported," media lawyer Mark Bantey said.

"But the public needs to know about the comings and goings of a notorious criminal."

Homolka, 35, who could be released between tomorrow and Monday, says she's vulnerable, isolated, without friends and resources, and needs help. But that won't happen as long as she has to be constantly on edge, worried about who's taking her picture or listening to her conversations.

"All I want when freed is to have the opportunity to rebuild my life and to be as anonymous as possible," says the affidavit, signed Karla Leanne Teale. Homolka and her ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, legally changed their names to Teale; the name is taken from that of a fictional serial killer in the 1988 movie Criminal Law.

The motion claims that the media have convinced the public through blanket coverage that Homolka's 12-year sentence for her role in the sex slayings of Ontario teenagers Leslie Mahaffey and Kristen French was grossly insufficient, and that the sentence also didn't reflect Homolka's role in the death of her sister Tammy.

The public was outraged when Ontario's attorney-general's office struck a deal with Homolka, agreeing to a lighter sentence for her role in the killings if she testified against Bernardo.

Videotapes of the gruesome sexual assaults found after the deal was struck showed Homolka played a more key role than the Crown had initially suspected.

Bernardo was convicted of first-degree murder and has been declared a dangerous offender.

Homolka says the media fuelled widespread public feelings of hatred, anger, horror and revenge that her crimes invoked. As a result, she's received both verbal and written death threats and fears that her life outside will be even more confining than it was in prison.

"Given the events that have happened throughout my incarceration and the interest in my upcoming release, I believe there are people who want to do the public a favour and kill me," she wrote.

If the "media circus" continues once she is released, Homolka's rights under both the Quebec and Canadian Charters of Rights and Freedoms as well as the Quebec Civil Code will be violated, the motion says.

The media frenzy over the notorious prisoner peaked this month when a hearing was held in Joliette to place conditions on Homolka's release.

She said that while being transported to court, she was "terrorized by some cameramen who desperately tried to take pictures of the inside of the van."

Some media outlets staked out the prison for days, hoping for a shot of her, or a quote from a fellow inmate.

Such information, the motion says, doesn't serve the public's right to know but rather feeds the appetite of those who want to kill Homolka.

It's very important to Homolka that her identity, her address, her comings and goings, her private conversations and her relationships are kept secret, she says.

Neither she, nor the police, can assure her safety 24 hours a day, Homolka says. And she can't afford private security, like certain celebrities.

"I've lived in a climate of hatred and revenge for more than 12 years," Homolka wrote. "Even if my contact with the outside was limited, I know that newspapers, television, radio and hundreds of chat rooms on the Internet incite and maintain this climate of hatred toward me."

If granted, the injunction will prohibit the media from following or contacting Homolka and her family when she's still in prison and as soon as she leaves. They won't be allowed to photograph her, try to photograph her, to obtain a photo of her or distribute her image in a way that makes it public. They will also be prohibited from trying to obtain personal information about her, her family and people with whom she's in contact.

smontgomery @thegazette.canwest.com


SUE MONTGOMERY
The Gazette