In a pretty stunning turn of events, one of Canada's most notorious
convicts agreed to be interviewed immediately after she got out of jail
yesterday, on the French news channel, Radio Canada. Back when the Green
Ribbon task force was trying to catch the mysterious killers, this
province was traumatized. And then when they were caught, and the sordid
details of the husband/wife kidnappings, assaults, and murders were
revealed, that traumatization became worse - a province collectively lost
some of its innocence.
I have to admit that it took courage for her to do this interview. And I
am somewhat more convinced than I used to be that she no longer represents
a danger to society. In fact, that's what she asserted just after I tuned
in and after her lawyer introduced why she was doing this. She insisted
she was not going to be a danger to anyone's children, and I found myself
giving this the benefit of the doubt - her pathology was always different
from her husband's. He was a garden variety pervert. Homolka? We've never
quite figured her out.
She claimed in the interview to have been a "follower," and yet she
displayed the same feistiness and combativeness with the Radio-Canada
presenter as she did in court, testifying against Bernardo. When she was
asked about having taken up with another murderer while in prison, she put
her foot down and said, "I'm not here to talk about anyone I was in prison
with; I'm not prepared to talk about that yet." And even though this is
probably the most contentious thing about her release, earning her 801
Criminal Code post-sentence supervision, she demonstrated quite clearly
that when she wants to, she takes the driver's seat. She is certainly no
"follower."
Nonetheless, when she talked about her involvement in the death of her
sister and how that has affected her status with her family, she seemed to
me to have genuine remorse, a thing she is not often said to have. She
says that she wants to "remake her life" in Quebec, hopeful that Quebec is
a society that will forgive her more easily than Ontario, where her crimes
were committed. And I found myself hoping that she can - she is out, and
no revenge can bring back the dead. Can she remodel herself as a citizen,
one who contributes rather than destroys? In that, my hopes are with her.
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3 comments:
While I was in Canada, I kept hearing about this woman on the news, but couldn't figure out who she is and what's the big deal with her. What exactly did she do and what happened to her husband?
Her husband badgered her into offering up her sister as a "Christmas present" to him. She worked as a veterinary assistant and had access to various general aesthetics used on animals.
She knocked out her sister two nights before Christmas with these drugs, and she and her husband took turns assaulting her, while the other videotaped. She was made ill by the drugs and the violence done to her, and choked on her own vomit, and died the next day. The pair covered up the crime with her family.
But he used the fact that he now had "the goods on her" to coerce her into committing more murders and assaults. When the trail of these crimes led to the couple, she portrayed her role in this light - she had been forced to go along with these murders. However, when the videotapes of these crimes surfaced, she seemed to take as much delight in the assaults as he did.
People are basically unhappy someone like that can be freed while still fairly young.
My gosh, what a horrible, grizzly story. Ripe for a Hollywood adaptation ( a sequel to "Monster", perhaps?) A person with such tendencies might be able to committ more crimes. And if she enjoyed assaulting people, then she probably is an immoral person who is not going to repent. : (
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