By
Rosie DiMannoStar
Columnist
Tues., Oct. 30, 2018
No doubt that is its own pathology.
A girl after his own heart.
This was not the female with whom the notorious schoolgirl-killer had conducted an intense highly sexualized six-week relationship in 2014, via letters and phone calls, a hookup that repeated — at least in fantasy — all of Bernardo’s well-documented sexual deviances. Bernardo admitted to prison psychiatrists masturbating himself into a frenzy over thoughts of that woman, resurrecting the crime cycle, albeit imagined, of control and debasement and humiliation.
Read more:
Opinion | Face it, schoolgirl-killer Paul Bernardo will probably be free one day
Convicted killer and rapist Paul Bernardo denied parole
“The Board believes that you still view relationships in terms of power and control, reflecting your limited progress in understanding what a healthy relationship should look like,” states the explanatory written decision released Tuesday by the two-member parole board panel which had denied Bernardo’s bid for day or full parole.
He’s a psychopath.
Bernardo’s repentance, if it can be depicted as such, was a long-winded tissue of deception, larded with self-diagnosis of low self-esteem, anxiety disorder, “victim stance thinking” and parent-blaming, though he’s latterly recanted that last part. “You mentioned at the hearing that you have come to the realization that your parents are not to blame. Your discovery seems to be recent as the issue of close family relationships is mentioned repeatedly in your file.”
The “no-contact” offender — meaning he’s in lockdown for 23 hours a day and the range is cleared when he’s allowed out of his cell at Millhaven — claimed to also have had an “aha” moment of insight and responsibility, albeit well into the quarter century of incarceration.
“You agreed with the Board that you displayed several personality traits associated to psychopaths such as being callous, glib, grandiose, cunning, deceptive, manipulative and a liar. You now claim to have changed and say that these traits are not part of your personality anymore. You describe yourself as a nice and compassionate guy.
“You told the Board that your participating in programs helped you appreciate that you had built up all kinds of justifications for your crimes over the years. You profess to understand now that there is nothing that could justify your horrific behaviour.”
The decision notes that, at the hearing, Bernardo avoided speaking about sexual self-gratification and the violent nature of his crimes, not only against the two teenage girls he abducted and murdered but the more than a dozen young women he subsequently admitted raping. Those were his Scarborough Rapist days, including his pre-Karla Homolka era.
“You told the Board you had no intention of hurting the women you sexually assaulted. The Board reminded you that you used a rope and a knife against several of the victims … There seems to be a dissociation between your view of yourself and your criminal behaviour and this is apparent throughout your file as it was at the hearing.”
Adding: “The empathy that you now claim to have for the victims is quite recent considering that you have been jailed for 25 years and have showed little sign of caring for the victims for most of that time.”
What Bernardo, summoning up tears, told the panel a fortnight ago: “What I did was so dreadful. I hurt a lot of people. I cry all the time.”
His continuing objectification of women was certainly evident in a 600-page “autobiography,” written as part of a 2009 treatment assignment, in which Bernardo lingered over the physical attributes of former girlfriends and his two murder victims. Their bra sizes. Intended, he said, to emphasize that the girls looked like adult women and he didn’t want to be mistaken for a pedophile.
Bernardo, 54, clearly realized he wasn’t going to be successful in obtaining even restricted day parole. Not at this time. But he can reapply in two years and every two years after that. What he’s doing, if ineffectively at this moment, is laying down the foundation for future release, probably by assessing where he went wrong with the panel — because he’ll read this written decision also.
While Bernardo’s reintegration potential has been assessed as low, demanding an “extremely gradual release,” the next “logical step,” as noted by a psychologist in a 2016 risk assessment report, would be for the felon to work towards a reduction in institutional security. Meaning, some day being transferred to mid-security penitentiary, with broader freedoms earned.
Although, even now, the “no-contact” regime is not quite as rigid it seems. Bernardo has already enjoyed escorted temporary passes outside the institution for medical appointments. And he’s participated in a group counselling sessions for sexual deviants.
Indeed, just a couple of days before his hearing, Bernardo said he was offered pornography by an unidentified individual.
Virtuously: “I didn’t take it.”
Rosie DiManno is a columnist based in Toronto covering sports and current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @rdimanno
Commentary by the Ottawa Mens Centre
I do not always agree with Rosie DiManno but she is the sort of journalist who is willing to have a rational discussion about almost anything however, I never ever miss reading one of stories as they are an example of some the best journalism you are going to read.
Like Christie, she calls a spade for what it is and this article goes to town on Bernardo with a surgical knife. If only she turned her attention to the most corrupt and dirty side of the other breed of psychopaths who choose to be police officers.
Here are three Examples of the lowest forms of life at the Ottawa Police.
Constable Van T NGUYEN Badge No. 952
This corrupt evidence fabricating rotten cop visited a very violent female
while on duty with out any reason months after he fabricated evidence to
NOT charge her.
NGUYEN colluded with two other Rotten cops of the Ottawa Police.
Cst. SAMUAL W. SMITH Badge No. 880 and Former Det Now Sgt. Peter Van Der Zander.
Van Der Zander. was promoted AFTER the Ottawa Police knew he fabricated evidence, as did several of the Crown Attorneys of Ottawa and the Local Children's Aid Society who all colluded in have charges stayed and charges laid to suit their political reasons to protect Van Der Zander, Constable Van T NGUYEN Badge No. 952
and Cst. SAMUAL W. SMITH from charges of Obstructing Justice and fabricating evidence.
Everyone in Ottawa should take a careful note of the names of these Rotten Ottawa Cops.
Det Sgt. Peter Van Der Zander.
Take a good look at this creep who actually fabricates evidence
to NOT charge violent women.
His unpublished number ends up in the hands of those seeking
a favour. In return, he intimidates, harasses, fabricates evidence and brings discredit to
all the other Ottawa Police officers who have more ethics.
If you have been a victim of any of these officers please email info@OttawaMensCentre.com