Jul. 6, 2005. 07:02 PM
FROM CANADIAN PRESSHomolka's location is such a closely guarded secret that lawyer Christian Lachance says even he doesn't know where she is.
"She can't leave the apartment because it's too dangerous right now for her, so she doesn't move," said Lachance, who spoke with Homolka on Wednesday morning.
"I don't know any details about where she lives, what she does, I don't know anything (about) the people around (her). It's for her safety all the way."
Homolka appeared on television Monday night professing remorse for her crimes just hours after evading a small army of journalists outside a Montreal-area prison.
The red minivan that spirited the 35-year-old away also managed to outrun several reporters who gave chase.
There's since been little indication of where, or with whom, the schoolgirl killer has taken refuge, except for city officials confirming she's somewhere on the island of Montreal and Homolka saying her mother is with her.
Homolka was holding up well after trading her prison cell for the confines of an apartment, said Lachance.
"I ask her if she was feeling OK and she said yes," said Lachance, who added "she has to stay there."
Last month, a court hearing that imposed restrictions on Homolka's post-prison movements heard of her desire to live quietly in Quebec, where her crimes gained little attention.
Among the conditions is that Homolka report to police every month. Montreal police issued a statement Wednesday vowing to keep information regarding the schoolgirl killer confidential.
Lachance was among a team of lawyers who twice went to court last week in a bid to muzzle the media's coverage of Homolka's release in the hopes of preserving her anonymity.
The injunction wasn't granted, some 500,000 people watched Homolka's televised interview and journalists from Homolka's native Ontario remained in Montreal still hoping to track her movements.
"People around her told her it's better not to move," said Lachance.
The palpable hatred felt for Homolka in Ontario is fuelled in large part by the so-called "deal with the devil" that saw her testify against ex-husband Paul Bernardo.
As a result, Homolka was handed a 12-year prison term for the brutal rape, torture and murder of Ontario teens Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. The sentence also reflected her involvement in the drug-rape death of her 15-year-old sister Tammy.
Bernardo received a life sentence, was subsequently declared a dangerous offender and remains jailed indefinitely.
At his trial, Bernardo testified it was Homolka who strangled Mahaffy and French in the couple's picturesque home in St. Catharines, Ont.
Last Friday, Bernardo told Ontario Provincial Police his ex-wife panicked and also attempted to kill Mahaffy earlier during her captivity.
"He told them because they were an authoritarian figure," said Bernardo's lawyer, Tony Bryant, who went public with the information Tuesday night.
"In light of an absence of any indication that they were going to do anything, the fact that they didn't do anything for several days as far as he knew, he authorized me to speak," Bryant said Wednesday.
"His view was he had information that he thought someone should know about."
The Ontario Crown attorney's office refused Wednesday to comment on the allegations.
613-797-3237