St. Catharines, Burlington families barred from attending Paul Bernardo’s parole hearing

A lawyer representing the families of two teenage girls murdered by notorious killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo says they have been denied the right to deliver their victim impact statements in person at Bernardo’s upcoming parole hearing.

In a letter sent to the Parole Board of Canada chairperson and others, lawyer Tim Danson says he was recently informed the victims’ families won’t be able to attend the Nov. 26 hearing at La Macaza Institution in Quebec because the board was “unable to ensure safety and security of all hearing attendees.”

Danson says the families are demanding that the hearing be adjourned to next month or some other date so they and their lawyers can travel to La Macaza and read their victim impact statements in person.

Bernardo was transferred from the maximum-security Millhaven Institution in Ontario to the medium-security La Macaza in last year, a decision that prompted public outcry.

Bernardo, who is designated as a dangerous offender, is serving an indeterminate life sentence for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 15-year-old Kristen French of St. Catharines and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy of Burlington in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.

He was also convicted of manslaughter in the December 1990 death of his then-wife Karla Homolka’s 15-year-old sister, Tammy.