Judge says Homolka still poses threat, imposes strict conditions on her freedom
A Quebec judge has ruled that convicted killer Karla Homolka has returned "back to the same pattern" and poses a threat to reoffend.
Judge Jean R. Beaulieu gave his ruling Friday afternoon on an application by the province of Ontario to place restrictions on Homolka once she is released from prison.
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The restrictions, under Section 810 of the Criminal Code, mean she must maintain good behaviour and not own any weapons.
She must also:
- Report to the nearest police station on the day of her release and tell them where she is living and who her roommates are.
- Notify police of any change of name.
- Report to a police station the first Friday of every month (or arrange another time).
- Give 96 hours notice if she plans to move.
- Give three days notice if she plans to go away for more than a weekend.
- Complete specific information about any travel plans.
- Give police her travel plans if leaving Quebec.
- Have no contact with people with a criminal record.
- Have no contact with her former husband Paul Bernardo.
- Have no contact with former victims Jane Doe or Nicole T.
- Have no contact with the families of victims Kristen French or Leslie Mahaffy.
- Not possess drugs or illicit substances.
- Not be in a job which gives her access to benzodiazepine, opiates or barbiturates.
- Have no job or volunteer position with people under the age of 16.
- Continue therapy and counselling.
- Provide police with a DNA sample.
The judge said Homolka had better obey the conditions over the next 12 months, or else they will be renewed. If she breaks any conditions she faces up to two years in jail.
Homolka was impassive when she heard the ruling, sitting calmly in the courtroom and had no visible reaction, but her lawyer said the conditions are fundamentally unfair and show that the Canadian criminal justice system doesn't work.
Homolka has almost finished serving a 12-year sentence for her role in raping and killing two teenage girls in the early 1990s.
She could be released from prison any time between June 30 and July 5.
Earlier, Homolka's relationship with convicted killer Jean-Paul Gerbet, whom she met in the library of a federal prison in Quebec was revealed. The couple have exchanged weekly letters, pairs of clean underwear and a simple kiss in the library at one point.
Gerbet is due to be paroled in 2008. He will be deported to his native France upon his release from prison.
It was that relationship that appeared to convince the judge that Homolka was still a danger to reoffend.
"Here we are in 2005 and she's come back to the same pattern," Beaulieu said, referring to her relationship with Gerbet.
"She's back with a partner who is acting in the same style as the old one."
James Ramsay, the lawyer representing Ontario prosecutors at the hearing, produced sexually charged letters exchanged between two in which they speak of being together someday.
Ramsay also zeroed in on a list that Homolka had made during a counselling session outlining the qualities she was seeking in an ideal romantic partner.
Such a man should believe in the moral value of marriage, have a good education, want to have children, love his mother, have a good attitude toward women and have no history of family abuse, among other characteristics on Homolka's list.
"This isn't a good description of Jean-Paul Gerbet," Ramsay pointed out to the court.
The court had earlier heard that Homolka had a homosexual relationship with a fellow inmate that lasted a few years before ending more than two years ago. Morissette said it is very common for homosexual relationships to develop in prison, especially among prisoners serving lengthy sentences.
After his conviction in the first-degree murders of French and Mahaffy, Paul Bernardo was declared a dangerous offender. He will be kept in jail indefinitely.
Homolka's sentence was only 12 years because she claimed to be a battered wife and made a plea bargain deal with the Crown in return for testifying against Bernardo.
Only after the deal was struck did the videotapes surface showing her to be an apparently willing, full partner in the abuse against Mahaffy, French and her own teenage sister, Tammy Homolka.
Tammy choked to death on her own vomit after Bernardo and Homolka drugged and raped her two days before Christmas 1990.