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A sketch of Paul Bernardo as he appeared in court on Friday, April 13, 2018. He was facing weapon possession charges. 

(Credit: Alexandra Newbould)

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Paul Bernardo faces weapon possession charges

https://globalnews.ca/news/4142570/paul-bernardo-weapon-possession-charge/?utm_source=GlobalNews&utm_medium=Facebook

Notorious killer Paul Bernardo is facing a new charge of possession of a weapon, according to court documents.

Bernardo made a brief appearance in court via video in Napanee, Ont., on Friday.

Court documents show the alleged offence took place on Feb. 9 at the maximum-security Millhaven Institution.

Bernardo is accused of possessing a homemade shank made from a screw and a pen in prison.

Bernardo was convicted in the brutal rape and murders of two Ontario teenage girls, Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, in 1995. He is currently serving a life sentence.

He became eligible for day parole last year but had his hearing pushed back until October 2018.

Tim Danson, the lawyer for the families of Bernardo’s murder victims, said the new charge may impact his chances of getting parole.

“Obviously, even Paul Bernardo on this is entitled to the presumption of innocence, but if it’s true, and he is convicted, it will have a significant impact on his bid for freedom,” Danson told reporters at the law office in Toronto on Friday.

Danson said the families are preparing for his parole hearing later this year and that the process has been lengthy.

“Paul Bernardo’s actually had some, four or five, maybe even six, hearings that he then postponed. But each time the family has to prepare for the victim impact statements. The whole process has been really tearing them apart,” Danson said.

However, Danson said he is confident Bernardo, who has also been designated a dangerous offender, will never see the light of day.

“We’re not going to be complacent and we’re going to put the best case forward,” he said.

“Having said that, my view is, I’ve been doing this for 38 years, is that there is as much chance — the chances of Paul Bernardo ever seeing freedom is somewhere between zero and nil. That’s what I feel in my gut.”

Bernardo’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 18.

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Karla Homolka spotted at a clinic by a Facebook user in Chateauguay. Sept 11, 2017. 

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Karla Homolka (with her sisters) as a child. 

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Paul Bernardo Parole Hearing Set For August

http://www.torontosun.com/2017/05/31/families-brace-for-paul-bernardo-parole-hearing

TORONTO - The families of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy are bracing themselves for what they know is going to be a difficult summer.

Round one for Doug French was hearing Karla Homolka has been volunteering at the school her kids attend. But round two is coming in a couple of months, when Homolka’s killer ex-husband Paul Bernardo makes his bid for parole — some 25 years after the murders of his daughter and Mahaffy.

French is not looking forward to it.

He can’t even understand why Bernardo’s getting one.

“I thought he was determined a dangerous offender? But everybody gets a parole hearing.”

French said he’s preparing for the worst.

“You mark my words, he will get a day pass or an afternoon pass or something,” he said. “I suspect it will happen.”

The thought of it makes him sick.

“You have to put up with it,” the dad said of the kind of breaks Homolka seems to keep getting and what he fears could be in store for Bernardo.

The victims’ family lawyer Tim Danson says the parole hearing is scheduled for August and “although we don’t know for sure it will happen then, I am preparing for it as if it will.”

The families will try to keep Bernardo locked up. But he will have served 25 years of his life sentences, which have a “dangerous offender” tag added to them.

“You can imagine what it puts them through,” Danson said of the families. “It makes them have to go through what happened to their daughters as if it was yesterday.”

Doug French said he and his wife, Donna, made a decision years ago to try to get on with some sort of life.

“The way we look at it, Kristen would not have wanted us to be hanging around her grave all the time and would want us to try to go on,” he said. “That is what we have tried to do.”

But it is not easy.

“No sir.”

Donna has “been doing an excellent job working with the Niagara police,” which he says keeps her busy and focused. He said he also tries to keep busy and keep his mind off the nightmare of his daughter’s murder.

That said, he has become accustomed to hearing details about Bernardo and Homolka and nothing surprises him.

Homolka volunteering at a Montreal school is an example of that.

“We were told there’s nothing that could be done about it,” he said. “They said she’s done her time, she served her 12 years for manslaughter, and she has her own kids now and that she’s a free woman.”

French said he does not begrudge Homolka’s children receiving their mother’s time and he understands her desire to want to be part of it.

But he wonders about the other parents’ children.

“Maybe if people are uncomfortable about it they can talk to the police,” he said. “I just hope they are checking on her. I doubt they are checking her enough. I just hope something doesn’t happen. If it does, maybe that’s when they will do something.”

In that scenario, it will be too late. It certainly is for his murdered daughter.

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Karla Homolka. 5/30/2017

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Karla Homolka Returns. Volunteers at elementary school

http://www.citynews.ca/2017/05/30/exclusive-karla-homolka-occasionally-volunteers-at-montreal-elementary-school/

Canadian serial killer Karla Homolka occasionally volunteers at an elementary school in Montreal, school officials have confirmed with CityNews.

Homolka, who was convicted in 1993 to 12 years in prison in the deaths of schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, and also played a role in the death of her 15-year-old sister Tammy, has been regularly seen at a private Christian school in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a residential neighbourhood in Montreal.

Breakfast Television Montreal has learned Homolka has regularly been seen at Greaves Adventist Academy, where her children attend classes, and her appearance has some parents concerned.

Lily, who didn’t want her real identity revealed, said Homolka not only drops off and picks up her children but occasionally volunteers at the school.

“We don’t want her here,” Lily said.

“How would you feel knowing that your child is interacting with a person who is a serial killer? It’s not right.”

Lily said many parents have spoken to the school principal but nothing has changed.

In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Seventh-day Adventist Church addressed parents’ concerns.

“The Quebec Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and the administration of Greaves Adventist Academy are committed to providing quality education and enriching learning experiences to its students,” the statement read. “While we work through the concerns stated by parents and other stakeholders, we welcome those associated with the school to contact the Quebec Conference office of Education.”

By law, before anyone can have regular contact with children in Quebec schools, they are required to undergo a criminal background check.

“The school board was fully aware of who she is. She is not a regular volunteer, and can never be alone with any children, either in school or churches,” Seventh-day Adventist Church spokesman Stan Jensen told CityNews.

“It is protocol for all of our schools across Canada, and most of the world, to do background checks, not only on teachers, but [also] volunteers as well as clergy. As I said, she is not a regular volunteer. Rarely would she have cause to go into the school, and when she is, she is never alone.”

Homolka lived in Quebec following her 2005 release from prison, where she married Thierry Bordelais and gave birth to a boy. Bordelais is the brother of Homolka’s lawyer for her high-profile murder trial. The pair had two more children together.

According to the Canadian Press, she moved to the Antilles to escape media scrutiny in 2007. In 2012, journalist Paula Todd found Homolka living in Guadeloupe.

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Karla’s always loved recording videos, huh? 

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57 Bayview Drive decorated for this past Halloween. Where Paul and Karla’s old house used to stand (also where they raped, tortured and killed Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy)

Poor taste? Creepy? Ironic? What do you think?  

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Paul Bernardo Parole Hearing Set For March 2017.

https://www.thestar.com/news/crime/2016/10/31/paul-bernardos-parole-hearing-set-for-next-march-and-lawyer-for-victims-families-vows-to-fight.html

“I am confident that Paul Bernardo will never get parole.”

This is the resounding message that lawyer Tim Danson wanted the public to know regarding Paul Bernardo’s release on day parole.

The lawyer representing the families of two of Paul Bernardo’s victims — 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy and 15-year-old Kristen French — on Monday confirmed media reports that Bernardo’s preliminary hearing would be in March 2017.

After a trial whose details shocked the country, Bernardo was convicted in 1995 of offences including the murders of Mahaffay and French; he was sentenced to life without parole for at least 25 years. His wife, Karla Homolka, who testified against him and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, was released from prison in 2005.

Day parole would allow Bernardo to leave the prison during set times and participate in community activities, under the condition of returning at night.

Danson also made it clear that he intends to challenge the possibility of day parole, despite Bernardo’s eligibility for it.

A dangerous offender designation is given to anyone deemed of a particularly dangerous or violent nature, according to Danson.

What this means is that “Bernardo would have to present medical evidence, similar to the ones in his first trials, to meet the criteria for the designation to be lifted” says Danson. This would come in the form of a battery of psychological tests.

Danson said he intends to also push to make the evidence in the case be public.

“As Mr. Bernardo is making a request public remedy, not a private one, so should the evidence be public,” explains Danson.

Danson posits that the legal system should be transparent, and that invoking a criminal’s right to privacy regarding the evidence presented is, in his words, “unconstitutional.”

“That process must be transparent,” argued Danson.

@adeadlyinnocence @truecrimelass

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29 years ago today - October, 17 1987. Paul Bernardo meets Karla Homolka for the first time..... They went on to become two of the most infamous serial killers in Canadian history.

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Karla Homolka’s house in Chateauguay, Quebec. - Decorated for Halloween, October 9, 2016.

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A sign located on Rue Beauchamp in Chateauguay, Quebec. 

The last known living location of Karla Homolka. 

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THE HOMOLKA FREE ZONE.

A sign at a bus-stop in Châteauguay, Québec. (Karla Homolka’s last known living location)

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A third sign posted at a bus-stop in Chateauguay, Quebec. 

(Karla Homolka’s last known living location)