Honouring the Memory of Girls Tortured, Raped, Murdered: Unleashing their tormentor, rapist, murderer into the public sphere; punished 'perhaps' reformed...

"As you know, he's reviled not by just people out of jail but by people in jail. He had no knowledge of it ['shank' weapon] being there. There were many opportunities for many other people to have placed it there [in his prison cell]."
"[Bernardo has made a] determined effort not to make up for what he's done -- for that can never be done -- but to improve himself."
"He's as horrified as you and I are at what he did. The fact is he has over the 25 years [while in prison] experienced personal growth, he has at times seemed to blame others, burdened down by his own guilt."
"I expect that he will take full responsibility, express remorse, and he appears to be sincere in that."
"Their [parole board] decision will be not how much he should suffer, but does he present a risk."
Fergus O'Connor, defence lawyer, serial rapist/murderer Paul Bernardo

Paul Bernardo is seen via video link on Friday, May 18, 2018. Pam Davies/Special to The Toronto Sun

The justice system and prison officials in Canada have deemed it appropriate for a woman found guilty of the obscenity of helping to torture and rape a child and aiding in her bludgeoning murder to be released from maximum security long before her prison sentence for first-degree murder has been served, so that she can take advantage of the miracles that Indigenous healing lodges provide to nourish psychopathic souls. The government of the day is complicit and feels this initiative should be supported; to do otherwise is to be 'racist' and 'political'.

That is but one issue of holding society's worst offenders to a standard of justice: In 1991, Canada faced a reality that a serial rapist was prowling for victims in the Toronto area, then it was revealed that that very same rapist was in fact, a murderer and his accomplice aided and abetted his appetite for rape, torture and murder. Leslie Mahaffy, 14 who lived in Burlington, Ontario was kidnapped, tortured, raped and murdered. That was followed by the abduction of 15-year-old Kristen French from St.Catharines, kept captive for three days over which period she too was tortured, raped and murdered.

The murderer's name is Paul Bernardo whom his wife Karla Homolka -- who had been actively engaged in the previous two abductions, torture and rapes ending in murder -- also provided him with drugs to enable him to rape her younger sister, during which that sister died, choking on her own vomit resulting from the effect of the drug and the violence she was subjected to. Homolka, as guilty as her husband, aided the homicide investigation by revealing the presence of hidden, fully incriminating tapes documenting their gruesome pact and the outcomes.

Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy

Convicted just as he was of first-degree murder, she served a lenient dozen years, enraging the public that the price she paid for taking the lives of three innocent young women was simply notoriety while her stay in prison had all the hallmarks of easy going. Despite her horrendous crimes she has married and now has growing children of her own attending Montreal schools, an outcome that justice begs the belief that it has prevailed. Now Canadian justice is working to announce the rehabilitation of her former husband, preparing to release him into the community.

Many lawyers know little of moral scruples and it seems evident that Bernardo lucked into one of those professional manipulators who excel at law and justice performances to persuade the public that this unregenerate degenerate psychopath deserves to take his place as an ordinary citizen in society once again. Like his former wife, this murderer too has the 'support' of his parents, which support in the past failed to exempt both of them from embarking on visiting the horror of pain, degradation and death on those unable to defend themselves from their predators.

The court has the honourable word of Bernardo's lawyer who places emphasis on his client's good behaviour in "very hard conditions of confinement". Now 54, a man who has spent a quarter-century in prison conditions that shielded him from the potential of violent attacks and possibly death at the hands of other prisoners whose moral code far surpassed his own, Bernardo is to be given day parole, likely a period of living supervised in a halfway facility, eventually leading to full release.

This is no madman whose lunacy led him to the dark passage of rapist/murderer; he and his partner in conscienceless brutality simply lusted after the cruel and twisted experiences that appealed to them; that they came at the price of other peoples' lives was of no concern whatever. This is how the Province of Ontario's justice and prison system feels its obligations to the victims of crime are being honoured. It is how Terri-Lynne McClintick, found guilty along with her associate of the torture, rape and murder of 8-year-old Tory Stafford has been dealt with in a Saskatchewan healing lodge facility.

Trudeau Refused To Denounce Moving Tori Stafford’s Killer -- right: 8-year-old Victoria Stafford

And in Alberta, it is how Calgarian Mathew DeGrood who killed five young people; Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Lawrence Hong, 27, Joshua Hunter, 23, Kaitlin Perras, 23, and Jordan Segura, 22, on April 15, 2014, at a party celebrating the end of spring university classes is being dealt with. Held to have been mentally impaired at the time of the killing when he described voices in his head telling him that the end of the world was imminent; he reacted by a killing spree. His schizophrenia is said to be in full remission, and as long as he takes prescribed medication, will be kept in balance. Should he decide to discontinue the medication, his being at large will threaten the ongoing safety of others.

When the parents of the young people he murdered dissented at the news, of his parole release, they were characterized as uncompassionate, failing to understand the issues involved. Their collective response was one that any community anywhere could agree with: "We strongly defy anyone that suggests this risk is manageable or acceptable. The absolute evil and heinous nature of the crime he committed can not be overstated and the prospect of this person being re-integrated into our community is beyond comprehension."

Zackariah Rathwell, 21, Lawrence Hong, 27, Kaitlin Perras, 23, ​Jordan Segura, 22, and Joshua Hunter, 23, died after de Grood stabbed them at a party in Calgary's Brentwood community in 2014. (Facebook)