Inquest begins into hanging death of child sex assaulter at Saskatchewan prison

5-7-2012 Canada:

SASKATOON - A makeshift noose and a suicide note were found in the Saskatoon cell of man who was awaiting sentencing for child sexual assault.

That's what Sgt. Rob Cleveland told an inquest Monday into the death of 27-year-old Travis Parenteau at the Saskatoon Provincial Correctional Centre in June 2010.

The inquiry's goal is to determine when, where and how Parenteau died and recommend how it could be prevented in the future.

Cleveland photographed the cell where Parenteau's body was found the day before Parenteau was to be sentenced for sexually assaulting a child.

The six jurors will be able to question the 10 witnesses, corrections workers, police officers and health professionals.

Also in court are Parenteau's mother and two sisters, who have been granted standing status at the inquiry, which means they are able to cross examine the witnesses. ..Source.. by The Canadian Press

Sex offender possibly murdered

12-6-2011 Canada:

Police believe a sexual offender who died last week while serving time in Mission Institution was murdered.

Officers with Correction Service Canada (CSC) discovered an unresponsive male inside his cell at the medium security prison around 10: 45 p.m. on Friday.

Emergency services were called to the scene, however the victim could not be revived and was pronounced dead.

As a result, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) was called to the scene, and an autopsy was scheduled for early this week.

"Investigators continue to look into this suspicious death," Sgt. Jennifer Pound of IHIT said in a press release.

"It appears to be a homicide and the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team . . . has been called in and has since taken conduct of the investigation."

CSC identified the victim as 39-year-old Troy Squires, although the IHIT would not confirm that because the victim's next of kin had yet to be notified.

Squires had been serving an indeterminate sentence for forcible confinement, sexual assault, uttering threats to cause death/harm, assault with a weapon and overcome resistance. He began serving that sentence in January of 2006. The CSC will also review the incident, said Brandon Banks, assistant warden of management services for CSC, in a press release.

Mission Institution is a medium security facility that houses roughly 250 inmates. ..Source.. by Cam Tucker, The Times

Homicide victim a convicted sex offender

9-16-2011 Canada:

Hamilton’s most recent homicide victim, George Washington Burnett, was a convicted child molester.

Court documents obtained by The Spectator show Burnett pleaded guilty to sex-related offences in 1993 involving three victims, whose identities are protected under a publication ban. He was sentenced to seven years in a penitentiary.

The abuse took place during two time periods. The first was in the mid-1970s. The second occurred over several years, ending in the early 1990s.

Burnett, 82, was found dead in his bed at his Stirton Street home with a knife in his neck on the evening of Sept. 7. His son David and concerned friends had come to check on him and found his body.

Police said he was last seen by several people around noon the day before.

Neighbours have remembered Burnett, a former pastor, as a deeply religious man whom one neighbour said was like everybody’s grandfather.

Hamilton police say they are confident the murder was not random, but would not comment on whether his death was connected to his past. Staff Sergeant Steve Hrab, of the homicide unit, said there is some sort of relationship between Burnett and his killer.

“This individual wasn’t a stranger to the deceased,” Hrab said.

When asked if police are looking at someone in the neighbourhood, he said: “That’s a possibility, but it’s not conclusive to just that.”

Hrab described Stirton Street, in the central lower city near Sanford Avenue North and Wilson Street, as a close-knit neighbourhood. Burnett was known to most of his neighbours and they knew it was unusual that he had not been seen for more than a day.

One of the victims Burnett was convicted of molesting spoke to The Spectator.

She stoically recalled details of the abuse, which began more than 20 years ago when she was nine years old. The woman, now 30, read about the homicide in the newspaper and wondered if it was the same George Washington Burnett.

She hadn’t seen or spoken to Burnett since he was sent to prison. No one told her he lived about a 10-minute drive away. News of his death brought back memories.

“I started thinking, ‘Well maybe somebody from before that he did something to had come back to get revenge.’ Or maybe he did it to someone’s kid,” she said.

The woman said the abuse started about a month after she met Burnett. She said he would cover her mouth so she couldn’t scream and threaten her by saying he would send her away and she would never see her family again. She never told anyone what happened, not even her mother.

“I was scared to tell anyone, he put the fear in me,” she said. “I just remember being in shock, I don’t remember ever having emotion. After this happened, I just had to deal with it.”

The woman broke down when she talked about how Burnett changed her life — she was always afraid of men and new people until she got older.

“I never had boyfriends growing up, I felt like I never had a normal childhood because of that.”

A few years into the abuse, she was confronted by a woman who said Burnett raped her. At first she denied anything had been done to her, but when she found out she wasn’t the only victim, she broke her silence and told her family. Burnett was charged with five offences in 1993. He eventually pleaded guilty to three of those charges.

She never saw him again.

Following his death, neighbours — who say they knew little about Burnett — were deeply saddened. They described him as a wonderful man whom everyone looked after. He spent holidays with the folks across the street, and others helped him with meals and chores. They said Burnett was always alone and some recalled him living on Stirton for 10 to 15 years.

Burnett had seven children and several grandchildren. He once worked at Menasco Aerospace in Oakville as an engineer. Before he went to prison, he was a pastor at a local church.

Some of Burnett’s family members declined to speak to The Spectator. They held a funeral service for him Friday morning.

Police set up a command van in the neighbourhood on Thursday hoping to interview about 30 people they had not yet spoken to. Hrab said they did reach some of them, but would not say whether police learned any new details about the case.

“I don’t want the people responsible to know what we are thinking,” Hrab said. ..Source.. by Stacey Escott

Man who killed sex offender could spend 6 years in jail

3-28-2011 Canada:

A Montreal crown prosecutor has recommended six years in jail for a man convicted in a vigilante-style killing.

Patrick Belanger was convicted of the manslaughter death of 63-year-old Leonard Wells at a Snowdon-area apartment building.

In July 2009, Belanger attacked Wells after he spotted child pornography on the man’s computer.

Belanger became angry and began punching Wells repeatedly.

The victim died in hospital.

Wells was a known sex offender from Ontario.

During a pre-sentencing hearing at the Montreal courthouse Monday afternoon, lawyers debated what sentence the 28-year-old Belanger deserved.

In his arguments, crown attorney Thierry Nadon said a clear message needed to be sent that people should not take justice into their own hands.

On the other side, the defense argued three years behind bars would be enough. In court, lawyer Julien Archambault discussed his client’s alcohol and drug problems, and argued his client was a victim of sexual abuse in his youth.

Therapist Clement Proulx was one of eight people to testify for Belanger.

“This is somebody who has less than one per cent of a chance of recidivism, of committing another crime like that, of committing any crime. He doesn’t have a background of criminal history,” he said.

Eric Schorer is the janitor at the building where the crime took place.

He agreed Belanger deserved a less harsh sentence.

“I don’t think he wanted to kill him. He’s a normal type of person. He needs a break in life. He had a really rough life,” Schorer said.

The crown’s suggestion was in line with a similar recent case.

In 2009, a British Columbia resident received seven years in prison for attacking a suspected pedophile with a baseball bat.

Clifford Frederic Martin struck his victim as he lay sleeping.

The man he killed was accused of molesting a 13-year-old girl.

Justice Louise Boudreau will hand down a sentence on April 21. ..Source.. by Global Montreal

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Child-porn discovery not a 'licence to kill': Canadian man who beat his neighbour to death after finding child pornography on his computer will serve six years behind bars

4-1-2011:

A man who beat his neighbour to death after finding child pornography on his computer should serve six years behind bars, says the Crown.

Patrick Belanger, 28, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the July 2009 beating death of Leonard Wells, 63, in west-end Montreal.

Prosecutor Thierry Nadon told a Quebec Court judge the sentence would send a clear message to society that vigilante killings are unacceptable and that a man's pedophilic tendencies don't give citizens "a licence to kill."

Belanger will be sentenced on April 21.

He was initially charged with first-degree murder following the attack on July 25, 2009. He had been helping Wells to move and had asked to use his computer while the two were taking a break.

He flew into a rage when he stumbled across images of children being sexually assaulted. Belanger called 911 and warned he would take matters into his own hands unless Wells was arrested immediately. He began punching and kicking the man when police failed to arrive after 20 minutes.

Belanger called 911 a second time as Wells lay in a pool of his own blood. The victim was transported to hospital in a coma and died a month later.

Belanger later told the court the child-porn images triggered memories of his own father's tale of childhood sexual abuse. The defendant also said he was drunk at the time of the beating and he had been an alcoholic for several years.

But the Crown said the "horrific" and "revolting" images did not give Belanger an excuse to kill a man.

"We cannot allow people to mete out their own justice," Nadon told the court.

"(Otherwise) we would be promoting anarchy. Incidents such as this one ... do not give him a licence to kill."

The prosecutor said the fact Belanger waited 20 minutes to administer the beating was evidence the killing was premeditated.

Defence lawyer Julien Archambault countered Belanger had no criminal record and has been in alcohol rehab for two years.

He requested a three-year prison term.

Belanger told judge Louise Bourdeau he's a changed man and was "not thinking rationally" at the time of the deadly attack.

"I'll have to pay for what I did," he added. "I have no hard feelings towards the Crown. Justice must be served." ..source..

Alberta woman who killed supposed child abuser wins full parole under faint-hope clause

12-29-2010 Canada:

EDMONTON — A woman convicted of first-degree murder in the 1989 beating death of a man from Wetaskiwin, Alta., has been granted full parole under Canada's faint-hope clause.

A decision made by the Parole Board of Canada granted Yvonne Johnson, 48, full parole on Dec. 17, with conditions to abstain from alcohol and drugs, continue psychological counselling and to not associate with known or suspected criminals.

Johnson was convicted in 1991 of first-degree murder in the beating death of a man she suspected of being a child molester.

There was never any proof the man molested anyone.

Johnson was initially given an automatic sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, but in 2005, she won the right to apply for early parole under Canada's faint-hope clause.

Inmates must have served at least 15 years of their sentences before they can make an application through the clause.

In its written decision, the board outlined Johnson's commitment to "moving forward" with her life and her continued ability to manage her risk in the community as reasons for her release.

Her risk to reoffend is assessed as low.

The decision states that while the victim's family members were not present at her most recent parole hearing, they have consistently rejected her early release.

Parole documents say Johnson runs an at-home business selling aboriginal arts and crafts. She is also the primary caregiver for her two grandchildren and receives some financial help from the province for their care.

Johnson served nearly 17 years of her sentence before she was first released on day parole in February 2008, which was renewed every six months until February 2010.

She applied for full parole in October 2009, but was denied because the board "noted there were several issues of concern that needed to be addressed." She was, however, granted overnight-leave privileges on her day parole. She applied for full parole once more in March but was once again denied.

It's not known where Johnson will reside following her release. Because she was serving a life sentence, she will be subject to supervision by the Correctional Service of Canada for the remainder of her life, parole documents state.

On Sept. 15 1989, 36-year-old Leonard Skwarok was lured to Johnson's home, where he was attacked because Johnson, who was 27 at the time, and three others mistakenly believed he was a child molester. All four attackers were heavily intoxicated.

Johnson, a victim of childhood abuse, sodomized Skwarok with a chair leg before strangling him with a telephone cord.

Johnson co-authored a book with Edmontonian Rudy Wiebe about the murder and her life titled, Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman, which was nominated for a Governor General's Award. ..Source.. by Mariam Ibrahim

Dorchester inmate's death a homicide: RCMP

9-13-2010 Canada:

The New Brunswick RCMP are ruling the Friday evening death of an inmate at the Dorchester Penitentiary a homicide.

The RCMP released a statement on Monday that said that based on evidence gained from an autopsy, Daniel Pépin was the victim of a homicide.

Pépin, 44, of Quebec, died after an altercation with another inmate at the Shepody Healing Centre.

The RCMP is continuing its investigation into the death.

Dorchester Penitentiary is a medium-security facility southeast of Moncton that can house 415 offenders, according to its website.

The prison offers special programs and facilities, including the Shepody centre, which is the regional treatment facility for the Atlantic provinces.

The penitentiary provides programs that include anger management, community integration, employability skills, sex offender rehabilitation, family violence prevention and substance abuse treatment. ..Source.. byCBC News

N.B. teen says she killed senior because of abuse

1-16-2010 Canada:

SAINT JOHN - Four women will testify that they were assaulted sexually by Frank Tonge when they were little girls, defence lawyer David Lutz told a jury in his opening statement of a murder trial yesterday.

"One occasion involved a broomstick. On another occasion, an animal," Lutz said in court.

"Frank Tonge is dead because on the day he died, he attempted to rape his last little girl."

Lutz represents a 16-year-old girl who is on trial for first-degree murder in the death of 78-year-old Tonge, who died in his Saint John home last June.

The girl can't be identified because of age provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The Crown closed its case yesterday -- the third day of the Court of Queen's Bench trial.

Prosecutors had earlier played a videotaped questioning of the accused by police, during which she said she stabbed Tonge in the neck and ran because she was scared and "fed up" with being fondled.

Lutz maintains the accused, who was 15 at the time, was defending herself.

"Frank Tonge was pulling this 15-year-old, to whom he had given drugs and alcohol for some time, into his bedroom."

Lutz said if the jurors believe what the accused told police, they would know she was addicted to drugs and kept going to Tonge's home because he gave them to her and, in exchange, fondled her.

Lutz said the teenage girl had done crack, cocaine, heroin, ecstasy and Dilaudid, and had taken drugs intravenously.

"Who helped her down that drug path?" Lutz said to the court. "Frank Tonge."

Lutz said two of Tonge's alleged victims, who will testify, had previously complained to the RCMP that Tonge had sexually assaulted them. He said two other witnesses called him after reading about Tonge's death in the newspaper.

The jury heard testimony yesterday from a 14-year-old friend of the accused, who said the accused talked about killing the elderly man.

She said she went to the accused girl's home and they packed two bags, one with a knife they got from a block in the kitchen, gloves and a belt. She said they walked to Tonge's home and she waited in the bushes while the accused went inside.

Under cross-examination by Lutz, the 14-year-old witness said she knew Tonge was a "bad man" when she went to his home that day. The girl testified that she knew Tonge supplied drugs to her friend and kissed and touched her inappropriately. ..Source.. by Times & Transcript

Parole appeal denied for Alberta woman who helped kill suspected child molester

7-20-2009 Canada:

EDMONTON - The appeal division of the National Parole Board has upheld a decision to deny extended parole to a woman who helped rape, torture and strangle a central Alberta man.

Yvonne Johnson appealed the board's decision that she must return to a halfway house every night.

She argued they should not have ordered a psychological assessment and said she wished to visit her ailing mother, according to the decision.

But the appeal division ruled the board was right to consider the violence of the crime, alcohol abuse and the short length of time Johnson has been on day parole.

"The board was appropriately concerned with the potential risks associated with your successful reintegration into the community and the safety of the public," reads the decision.

Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for her part in the death of Leonard (Chuck) Skwarok in a basement in Wetaskiwin, Alta., in 1989.

She and three others had been drinking when they killed Skwarok, who they mistakenly believed was a child molester.

Johnson was initially sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years, but was granted day parole in January 2008 after getting permission to apply early under the Criminal Code's faint-hope clause.

While in prison, she co-wrote the best-selling novel "Stolen Life" with Edmonton author Rudy Wiebe about her abusive childhood, the murder and her time behind bars. ..Source.. by THE CANADIAN PRESS

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Convicted killer Thatcher can profit from memoir

4-20-2009 Canada:

SASKATOON — Convicted killer Colin Thatcher is in luck he lives in Saskatchewan.

If he had moved to Alberta or Manitoba, he likely wouldn’t be able to make money from the sale of his new book.

The neighbouring provinces have laws in place preventing convicted criminals from pocketing profits on the sale of their crime stories.

Victims’ rights advocate Shelley Marshall says there needs to be a law that applies across the country.

Thatcher “should not get a dime,” says Marshall, president of the Manitoba Organization for Victim Assistance.

“He was found guilty of murdering the mother of his children.”

Marshall’s son was slain in Winnipeg in 2001. Although she agrees with freedom of speech, it pains her to think his two killers could earn money if they were to write a book about the crime.

“For people who have lost a loved one to homicide, they would find what (Thatcher) wishes to do at the least disappointing and at the worst reprehensible.”

Word leaked last week that Thatcher has penned a 440-page memoir titled “Final Appeal: Anatomy of a Frame.” The book argues his innocence and details the 22 years he spent behind bars.

ECW Press, an independent publishing company in Toronto, plans to have the book on store shelves Sept. 1.

Publisher Jack David says Thatcher researched the issue of whether a law prevents him from accepting royalties on the book and found none exists in Saskatchewan.

Laur’Lei Silzer, a spokeswoman for Saskatchewan Justice, confirms the province doesn’t have a law in place.

Thatcher, now 70, lives on his family ranch near Moose Jaw.

He has maintained his innocence since his ex-wife, JoAnn Wilson, was bludgeoned and shot to death in the garage of her Regina home in 1983. A year later, Thatcher was convicted of first-degree murder.

Ontario became the first province to pass its Victim’s Right to Proceeds of Crime Act in 1994.

It was modelled on “Son of Sam” laws in the United States. New York led the movement after rumours circulated that publishers were offering large amounts of money to serial killer David Berkowitz for his story. The U.S. Supreme Court, however, struck down the New York law in 1991.

The same statute was also struck down in California, spurring O.J. Simpson to write the book “If I Did It,” a hypothetical account of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman — crimes of which Simpson was acquitted. A Florida bankruptcy court later awarded rights to the book to Goldman’s family to satisfy an unpaid civil judgment against Simpson.

An attempt at a Canada-wide law preventing criminals from profiting from the commercialization of their crimes through books, movies and other media was first made in 1995. Supported by victims’ organizations but criticized by writers’ groups, the bill died in the Senate three years later.

In the past few years, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Alberta have each passed their own criminal notoriety legislation.

Each law is somewhat different, but they generally allow governments to seize profits and forward them to either the victims of the crimes in question or general victims’ support funds. The laws also allow for fines of up to $50,000 to be imposed on offenders, publishers and movie makers.

The laws only apply to people who live in those provinces, although Manitoba’s law goes one step further. In an attempt to cover convicts transferred to prisons outside the province, the law also applies to people whose crimes took place in Manitoba.

The Manitoba law has dissuaded at least one killer there from inking a book. A jury heard evidence last year that Sydney Teerhuis-Moar planned to write a book with a freelance writer detailing how he stabbed and dismembered Robin Greene at a Winnipeg hotel.

When Teerhuis-Moar learned there was a law preventing him from earning money, he changed his mind.

Before Alberta passed its law, convicted killer Yvonne Johnson co-wrote the book “Stolen Life: that Journey of a Cree Woman” with author Rudy Wiebe. Johnson was convicted of first-degree murder for the brutal, drunken killing of Leonard Skwarok in 1989. Johnson mistakenly believed the man was a child molester.

The book was nominated for a Governor General’s Award, but Skwarok’s family has publicly expressed their anger over the fame and profits Johnson gained from telling her story.

In 2005, when Karla Homolka was released from prison in Quebec, justice officials in Ontario worried they would no longer be able to enforce the parts of her infamous plea-bargain that banned her from telling her story through a book or movie.

Homolka served a 12-year manslaughter sentence for her part in the sex-slayings of teens Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.

Lawyer and author Garrett Wilson of Regina says he’s sure Thatcher isn’t writing the book to make money.

“He’s doing this for the publicity and the personal satisfaction,” says Wilson.

Wilson, who wrote the 1985 best-seller “Deny, Deny, Deny” about the rise and fall of Thatcher, is surprised a respected publishing company like ECW Press would take on his memoir.

Wilson says Western Producer Prairie Books was criticized by the publishing industry after it put out Thatcher’s first book, “Backrooms: A Story of Politics,” that he wrote while he was in prison.

Still behind bars, Thatcher claimed to have written a sequel focusing on his ex-wife’s murder, says Wilson.

“Because of the criticism of the first book, Western Producer wouldn’t touch it and no one else would.” ..Source.. by Chris Purdy, THE CANADIAN PRESS

Child molester killed in Canadian prison

11-11-2008 Canada:

The inmate killed in a riot at a Canadian prison was a convicted child molester serving an indefinite sentence, officials said Sunday.

Michael Gibbon, 39, was the only prisoner to die in the riot Saturday night at Mountain Institution, a medium-security prison in British Columbia, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. Dave Lefebvre, a spokesman for the Correctional Service of Canada, said another inmate was hospitalized.

Gibbon, a lifelong resident of Chilliwack, a city west of Vancouver and a few miles north of the U.S. border, was sentenced to three months in 1992 for molesting a boy. He was imprisoned in 1997 for child pornography and sexual assault.

Inmates began breaking windows in the gymnasium at about 9:45 p.m., Lefebvre said. As the riot escalated, they began attacking each other.

Homicide investigators from Vancouver were called in to investigate Gibbon's death. The Correctional Service and the coroner will conduct independent investigations, Lefebvre said. ..News Source.. by UPI

Justice Delayed

9-3-2008 Canada:

Killers jailed 21 years after attack

Twenty-one years after Erwin Kakoschke was fatally beaten outside his North Kildonan home, two of his killers are finally behind bars.

Ernest Dennis Wolanicki, 46, and Edward Hugh Young, 43, pleaded guilty yesterday to manslaughter and were sentenced to eight years in prison.

A third man, Wolanicki's brother Orville Wolanicki, 41, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault. He will be sentenced later this fall and remains free on bail.

All three men were originally charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the reduced charges in a plea bargain with the Crown.

Kakoschke was beaten to death as he opened his garage door on Oct. 21, 1987. His daughter discovered his partially snow-covered body three days later.

Court heard the widower was targeted for a beating by his new girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. The man has since died and was never charged in connection with Kakoschke's death.

Ernest Wolanicki and Young told police it was another man who hired them to beat Kakoschke. They claimed the man lied to them, telling them Kakoschke was a pedophile.

Wolanicki and Young beat Kakoschke with a baseball bat and tire iron, smashing his skull and breaking his legs.

Police had no evidence linking the men to the crime and the investigation remained stalled for nearly 12 years when, in September 1999, patrol officers responded to a domestic disturbance between Ernest Wolanicki and his then-girlfriend.

The woman told police: "Why don't you ask him about the murder he did?"

In July 2001, Orville Wolanicki's ex-girlfriend came forward and told police Orville had confessed to his involvement in the killing, claiming they were paid several hundred dollars to beat up Kakoschke "and he ended up dying."

Orville Wolanicki is accused of driving the other two men to Kakoschke's home and did not participate in the beating.

The men weren't arrested until late 2001, shortly after the appearance of a story in the Winnipeg Sun.

Young was "haunted" by Kakoschke's killing and in 2006 tried to slit his throat in a failed suicide bid, said defence lawyer Martin Glazer.

"I do regret it, every day of my life," Young told members of Kakoschke's family yesterday. "I'm sorry, I truly am sorry."

Ernest Wolanicki said he has never stopped thinking about Kakoschke's death.

"I'm ashamed that I have to appear before you today," Wolanicki told Justice Murray Sinclair. "My sentence for this basically started the day this happened."

Sinclair rejected an attempt by the defence to paint Wolanicki and Young as victims.

Kakoschke "did nothing wrong but try to live his life," Sinclair said.

"I do not see the accused as victims. They are the ones who willingly participated in beating the victim." ..News Source.. by DEAN PRITCHARD, SUN MEDIA

Canada- Man returns to jail for killing inmate

6-8-2008 Canada:

Attacker's six-year sentence for stabbing likely to be served in isolation, Crown says

A 37-year-old man, released from prison in January after serving a lengthy sentence for robberies, has been returned for another six years, this time for the fatal stabbing of a fellow inmate at Joyceville Institution two-and-a-half years ago.

Dennis George pleaded guilty in Kingston's Ontario Court of Justice last week to manslaughter in the death of LeRoy Paupst.

George's lawyer, John Dillon, and assistant Crown attorney Ross Drummond joined in recommending the six-year sentence to the judge.

Drummond told Justice Rommel Masse that George was an early suspect in the stabbing, but investigators with the joint-forces penitentiary squad were unable to find enough evidence to charge him.

It wasn't until after his release on Jan. 21 and subsequent arrest on a criminal harassment charge that the case was made for them - by George.

Drummond said George called the penitentiary squad from a London, Ont., jail in February and confessed to the killing, telling them "he got into it with Mr. Paupst and he died."

He claimed then, according to Drummond, that "he wanted to deal with what happened and get on with his life."

Paupst, a convicted sex offender less than a month away from release, was stabbed and died from massive blood loss on New Year's Day, 2005. It was a single puncture wound that severed an artery, according to the Crown, contrary to early reports that Paupst had been stabbed a number of times in the abdomen.

Drummond told the judge that Joyceville at the time had "open inmate movement" around 5:30 p. m., which meant virtually the entire prison population - 440 men - was in flux and moving between their ranges and recreation areas.

He told the judge that Corrections

staff noticed Paupst stumbling along a corridor between a prison courtyard and an interior recreation area around 5:55 p. m. and saw him collapse near a small canteen. They went to his aid and subsequently had him rushed to Kingston General Hospital by ambulance. But Paupst was pronounced dead at 7:03 p. m.

Masse was told that an autopsy determined that a single stab wound had cut into an artery and he'd bled to death internally.

Investigators immediately secured the video surveillance tapes from cameras overlooking the courtyard, where the attack took place, but Drummond said the film only captured the backs of two inmates running away. One of them appeared to be the same height and the same build as George, he added, but the images weren't conclusive.

Masse also heard that prison staff recovered the weapon - a bolt, ground to a point at one end - discarded on the ground close to the attack site.

The shank was actually one of about a dozen homemade weapons recovered in the search that followed the fatal stabbing, but Drummond said it was established as the one used to kill Paupst when the Centre for Forensic Science identified his DNA on it.

Drummond said George was considered a prime suspect because he has a history of assaults on sex offenders.

Drummond told Masse a second DNA sample was recovered from the bolt and while George couldn't be excluded as the donor, there were insufficient alleles to determine the DNA was his.

Paupst, a 47-year-old auto mechanic, was nearing the end of the five-year sentence he received in St. Thomas, Ont., for sexual crimes against women and girls committed between 1986 and 1998.

His victims ranged in age from 11 to 48 and a number of his crimes were distinguished by gratuitous cruelty.

National Parole Board records indicate that he kneed one of his victims, a pregnant woman, in the stomach; bit a teenage victim's breast hard enough to draw blood; and held a knife inches from the throat of a female co-worker after choking her.

He also required his victims to testify at his trial, then declined to question any of them and changed his pleas to guilty at the last minute. It was a manoeuvre his trial judge characterized as "some sort of perverse last thrust at them, to put them through further misery."

It wasn't disclosed in court whether George knew any of the details of Paupst's crimes, but the judge was told he knew his victim was a sex offender.

Defence lawyer Dillon told the judge that his client claims his attack was precipitated by a conversation he'd overheard between Paupst and another sex offender. The men were talking in a prison bathroom, Dillon said, and his client heard Paupst talking about his approaching release and describing unpleasant things he intended to do to the victims who'd testified against him.

People in the institution see his client as "a good guy," Dillon told Masse, and overhearing that conversation placed him in an untenable situation.

Dillon said George couldn't report what he'd heard to the authorities without being labelled a "rat," but George views himself as a protector of the weak, according to his lawyer.

"He has a need to protect weaker people and he felt these victims were weak," Dillon said.

It was in that context, Dillon argued, that George confronted Paupst "and admits stabbing him." His client didn't intend to kill, he said, and thought he was stabbing Paupst "in a place that was unlikely to cause death." As it turned out, "it was a crap shoot and he died."

Drummond, in explaining the joint recommendation, told the judge that George's six years will be longer and harder than the time he's used to serving.

By confessing to the killing and admitting his problem with sex offenders, the Crown told the court George has created significant housing problems for himself.

"Virtually every prison in the [federal] system is an integrated system," he explained, so it's likely George will have to be isolated from the general population.

Drummond said it's also likely, though not certain, that the National Parole Board will make him serve every day of his six-year sentence.

Masse, noting the recommendation before him, turned to George.

"You took a life," he said. "I'm of the view, sir, that [six years] is somewhat light."

He accepted it, however, considering that "the Crown, the authorities had nowhere near enough evidence against you."

Masse said: "You turned yourself in. I give you great credit for that, sir."

He was also influenced, he said, by the likelihood George will serve much of his sentence in isolation and will probably have to serve all of it.

Masse made a recommendation that George receive psychological counselling to deal with his anger-control problem in the presence of sex offenders. ..News Source.. by SUE YANAGISAWA WHIG-STANDARD COURT REPORTER

Murdered prisoner should have been moved: lawyer

6-11-2003 Canada:

The lawyer for a murdered pedophile says his jailers failed to protect him.

On Monday, guards found 46-year-old Richard Hatton dead in his cell at the Regional Detention Centre.

His cellmate, 29-year-old Daniel Labelle, is charged with second-degree murder.

Richard Hatton had been in the Regional Detention Centre since his arrest for violating the terms of a long-term supervision order.

Carol Sparling, a spokeswoman for the National Parole Board, says Hatton was being held awaiting a hearing to see if he should go back to federal prison.

"The breach had to do with being in an area where he was not supposed to be," says Sparling. "It had to do with a breach of an alcohol condition that he admitted to doing. There wasn't anything of involvement with children."

But Hatton did have a long history of criminal involvement with children. He had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children.

That history made Hatton a target for other inmates, and officials at the detention centre should have known that, says his lawyer, Joshua Zambrowski of Kingston.

"There is a legal onus on any detention centre, prison or penitentiary to take reasonable care to protect all prisoners. And the fact that he was sharing a cell with some other offender is in my view irresponsible and negligent," says Zambrowski.

Hatton had spent about a month at the provincial detention facility, according to Zambrowski. He says his client, a federal inmate, should have been moved much sooner to a federal prison where he would have been safer. ..more.. by CBC News

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Inquest probes pedophile's slaying by cellmate
6-19-2007 Canada:

Mentally ill inmates should be housed separately from other prisoners, a schizophrenic man who killed his cellmate four years ago told a coroner's inquest.

Daniel Labelle was testifying Monday via videoconference at the inquest in Ottawa into the death of 46-year-old Robert Hatton in 2003.

Hatton was intellectually disabled and had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children, but was being held in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre for a parole violation.

Labelle strangled Hatton in June 2003 and was later convicted of manslaughter. He's now serving an eight-year sentence at Penetanguishene Psychiatric Hospital.

Labelle, speaking from the hospital, said that before the slaying, he was scared that his cellmate, who weighed about 300 pounds, would try to rape him.

He said he asked repeatedly to be moved to another cell, but his request was denied.

Labelle apologized for what happened, and wanted the inquest to recommend that people with mental illness be housed separately.

Sister backs separate housing idea

As part of the inquest, Hatton's sister, Beverley Poste, spoke from Ottawa to Labelle during the videoconference Monday.

She agreed that people with mental illness should be housed separately, and said so should people who have been convicted of sex crimes.

"Both of those types of individuals are ill in one way or another and really need to be segregated from the rest of the population," Poste told the CBC following the day's testimony.

Pedophiles, in particular, are often targets of violence by other prisoners.

Poste said the inquest was useful, allowing her and Labelle to tell their sides of the story.

"I've explained to him … my brother that I knew and grew up with," she said after testifying.

She described Hatton as being "like a monster bird in a little wee nest."

Despite his enormous size, she said, "he didn't have a mean bone in his body. He couldn't be riled, he couldn't be angered and he certainly would have fallen over if Daniel had even pushed him."

But she said she was not angry at Labelle, as she recognized he was a sick man.

"He expressed horrendous anxiety about being celled with my brother and he didn't feel that the powers that be listened to him," she said. "He didn't anticipate murdering, and I honestly believe that."

The inquest is expected to end Friday. ..more.. by CBC News

Alleged sex offender killed for 'honour'

1-27-2007 Canada

THE victim of a so-called honour killing was under investigation for alleged sex offences it has been revealed after a murder trial.

Taxi boss Mohammed Shaheen was blasted to death by his brother-in-law at his business premises in Chorlton, Manchester.

Police believe the killing was motivated by anger over sex assaults on women dating back nine years 42-year-old Mr Shaheen is alleged to have carried out.
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Police were investigating the sex allegations at the time of the killing but after murderer Khyber Khan was jailed for at least 30 years the enquiry has been closed.

Khyber, aged 28, travelled from his home in Pakistan to Manchester in September 2005 after it was alleged that Mr Shaheen had been behaving "alarmingly" and had made death threats to the parents of one alleged victim.

Khan was only in the country four days but managed to arm himself with a shotgun.

On the day of the murder he phoned Mr Shaheen's business, Olympic Taxis on Keppel Road, Chorlton asking for him.

When he eventually was connected to Mr Shaheen, a worker at the premises heard the soon-to-be victim say he "did not want to know" the would-be killer.

Shortly after that exchange Khan walked into the premises and without a word blasted Mr Shaheen in the chest with a single barrel shotgun in front of staff.

A Manchester court heard that police, paramedics and taxi drivers rushed to the scene to help the stricken victim who was taken to hospital but was found dead on arrival.

Four hours after the killing Khan's sister, Nasreen Khan, 26, drove him to Manchester airport and gave him money for a ticket to Lahore.

The mother-of-two, from Cornbrook Park Road, Old Trafford, was later arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice. She denied the charge but was found guilty and jailed for two years.

Her sister, Parveen Khan, faced the same charge but the jury were unable to reach a verdict and she was freed.

Through the investigation and trial the killer Khyber Khan insisted he was innocent. He claimed he had been falsely identified by witnesses of the shooting.

Manchester police knew the identity of the killer from the start of the investigation. Through international police contacts they were able to track Khan's movements as he embarked on a world tour to evade arrest. From Pakistan he travelled to Kabul in Afghanistan, then to Abu Dhabi before attempting to gain entry to Canada.

There immigration officers became suspicious and he was deported to the UK. Manchester detectives were waiting to arrest him when he got of a plane at Heathrow airport.

Trial judge Anthony Gee said: "Our civilised society cannot for one moment contemplate so-called honour killings nor anyone who takes the law into their own hands. Those who do so may expect no mercy."

He jailed Khan for life and ordered that he serve at least 30 years before he can be considered for release.

He commended the police officers who worked on this case for their thoroughness and sensitivity.

Detective Sergeant Sam Pickering who lead the investigation into the killing said: "This has been a long and complex investigation and I am pleased that Khan has been brought to justice.

"Mohammed Iqbal Shaheen leaves a wife and son who have been devastated by their loss and this incident is made even more tragic by the fact that the man responsible for her husband's death is her own brother.

"I hope today's result will go some way to helping his family and friends to begin to come to terms with what has happened and start to rebuild their lives." ..more.. by Joanne Payton

Port Alberni man implicated in death of pedophile

9-20-1999 Canada:

A Port Alberni woman says her neighbor talked of killing a pedophile days before a body showed up in a creek near her home.
At first RCMP thought Lloyd Dayton died in a cougar attack. But three days after a death an autopsy was done and new information surfaced.

Lloyd Dayton's body was found floating in a creek in a Port Alberni park in 1995. His neck was punctured with claw like slashes. At first investigators thought Dayton was killed by an attacking cougar. But more information surfaced days after he was found dead.

Today in B.C. Supreme Court three of Don Hurrie's friends spoke out. Darryl Schooler says Hurrie came to his house in July of 1995. He says Hurrie told him he had just killed somebody. Schooler says he noticed blood on Hurrie's forehead before he used his bathroom to scrub up.

Another woman says she recalls Hurrie with a large hunting knife in a plastic bag, days after the death.

A third woman describes a meeting she had with Hurrie a man she knew as Donny August. She says he was agitated angry. He stopped by her yard to warn her of a pedophile in the neighborhood.

Trudee McKenzie says she wanted to know more because she feared for her own 7-year-old son, but all Hurrie would say was that a man had done something to his neice or nephew and now he was going to die. ..more.. by CBC News

Inquest probes pedophile's slaying by cellmate

6-19-2007 Canada:
Mentally ill inmates should be housed separately from other prisoners, a schizophrenic man who killed his cellmate four years ago told a coroner's inquest.

Daniel Labelle was testifying Monday via videoconference at the inquest in Ottawa into the death of 46-year-old Robert Hatton in 2003.

Hatton was intellectually disabled and had been convicted seven times for sexual offences against children, but was being held in the Ottawa Carleton Regional Detention Centre for a parole violation.

Labelle strangled Hatton in June 2003 and was later convicted of manslaughter. He's now serving an eight-year sentence at Penetanguishene Psychiatric Hospital.

Labelle, speaking from the hospital, said that before the slaying, he was scared that his cellmate, who weighed about 300 pounds, would try to rape him.

He said he asked repeatedly to be moved to another cell, but his request was denied.

Labelle apologized for what happened, and wanted the inquest to recommend that people with mental illness be housed separately.

Sister backs separate housing idea
As part of the inquest, Hatton's sister, Beverly Post, spoke from Ottawa to Labelle during the videoconference Monday.

She agreed that people with mental illness should be housed separately, and said so should people who have been convicted of sex crimes.

"Both of those types of individuals are ill in one way or another and really need to be segregated from the rest of the population," she told the CBC following the day's testimony.

Pedophiles, in particular, are often targets of violence by other prisoners.

Post said the inquest was useful, allowing her and Labelle to tell their sides of the story.

"I've explained to him … my brother that I knew and grew up with," said Post after testifying.

She described Hatton as being "like a monster bird in a little wee nest."

Despite his enormous size, she said, "he didn't have a mean bone in his body. He couldn't be riled, he couldn't be angered and he certainly would have fallen over if Daniel had even pushed him."

But she said she was not angry at Labelle, as she recognized he was a sick man.

"He expressed horrendous anxiety about being celled with my brother and he didn't feel that the powers that be listened to him," she said. "He didn't anticipate murdering, and I honestly believe that."

The inquest is expected to end Friday. ..more.. by CBC News

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Construction put prisoner in killer’s way
6-19-2007 Canada:

Ideally, inmates with psychological problems are not supposed to be put in the same jail cell as high-risk offenders such as pedophiles, a coroner's inquest heard Tuesday. But crowding is often a problem at the Ottawa Carleton Detention Centre - and in the spring of 2003, construction made the situation even worse.

That is how Daniel Labelle, a schizophrenic inmate at the facility, ended up in the same cell as Robert Hatton, a convicted pedophile, Jean-Marc Joly, security manager at the centre, testified.

The match turned out to be deadly, as Mr. Labelle killed Mr. Hatton on June 8, 2003. An autopsy revealed Mr. Hatton died of asphyxiation.

"We just didn't have the cell space to have everyone who has a psychological disorder to have their own cells," Mr. Joly testified. A lack of cell space wasn't the centre's only problem.

A lack of communication between departments in the facility also may have been a contributing factor in Mr. Hatton's death. Tuesday, the psychiatrist contracted to assess Mr. Labelle once a month testified he did not have access to the inmate's psychological, health and criminal files.

Dr. Rufino Balmaceda, a psychiatrist with the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre, said Mr. Labelle appeared "fit" and "not psychotic" just less than a week before he murdered his cellmate. It was determined only after the killing that Mr. Labelle suffered from serious psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia and, on June 8, 2003, he was taking one-tenth of the medication required to maintain a healthy mental state.

Mr. Labelle, 33, is now serving an eight-year sentence at the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre, after admitting to the crime in November 2006.

Mr. Labelle and Mr. Hatton shared a cell at the detention centre for nearly three weeks starting in late May 2003 as the facility was undergoing renovations. At that time, prison staff placed inmates in cells together based on their psychological problems and their behaviour in jail, but did not take their crimes into account, Mr. Joly said. He did not explain why the decision was made to place Mr. Labelle in a cell with Mr. Hatton.

In recent years, Ontario judges have declared illegal the practice of sending mentally ill people who have been charged with crimes to jail until beds come open at the forensic units of psychiatric hospitals. Yet, because of a lack of beds, the practice continues.

Mr. Joly testified that Mr. Labelle got into repeated fights with other cellmates, and often lashed out, exhibiting erratic behaviour. But Dr. Balmaceda said he was unaware of any such behaviour.

On May 28, in his last report before the killing, he wrote that Mr. Labelle was "not as anxious" and was "sleeping well. I didn't get any sense he was going to be acting up," he testified Tuesday, suggesting that the system would better serve inmates if there were just one health file accessible by all departments.

Currently, psychological, psychiatric and criminal files are not available between departments in order to protect the inmates' privacy, Dr. Balmaceda said.

The inquest also heard from Nick Kennedy, the corrections officer who first noticed Mr. Hatton was unresponsive on June 8, 2003.

Mr. Kennedy said he was serving lunch to the inmates just before 1 p.m. when Mr. Hatton, who appeared to be sleeping, did not respond. He said Mr. Labelle answered for his cellmate, saying that Mr. Hatton "doesn't want to eat."

Suspicious, Mr. Kennedy said he entered the cell and discovered Mr. Hatton was not breathing and did not have a pulse. He called for medical treatment and began to perform CPR.

Mr. Labelle appeared calm that day and seemed content with his cellmate, Mr. Kennedy testified.
But just the day before, the inquest learned Mr. Labelle approached corrections officer Pierre Patenaude at least seven times with written and verbal requests for a cell change.

On Monday, Mr. Labelle testified via video-link from Penetanguishene, saying he wanted to change cells because he didn't want to be housed with a pedophile. Because his numerous requests for a cell change were denied, Mr. Labelle told the inquest he planned to start a fight with Mr. Hatton to get the attention of jail officials. He said he never intended to kill Mr. Hatton.

Mr. Patenaude testified he was fed up with Mr. Labelle's constant requests and threw one of his written requests in the garbage can.

"You could never reason with inmate Labelle," Mr. Patenaude said. "There was always an issue. It was never smooth sailing, never a good day with him."

The inquest continues Wednesday. The five-member jury is expected to make recommendations on how to prevent a case like this from happening again. ..more.. by Ottawa Citizen

Police suspect vigilantism in man's murder

4-25-2001 Canada:
Laval police are investigating whether four men took the law into their own hands on Tuesday night. A 48-year-old man died after being brutally beaten and stabbed. Police say they were called to the scene of a fight behind an apartment building at about eight o'clock.

They were told four men were beating another man with baseball bats.

"When we arrived on the scene, the four people were not there," says Sergeant André St-Jacques of Laval police. "But the victim was able to go into his apartment. When we arrived and we saw him, he was unconscious."

The man, Michel Latendresse, 48, died later in hospital, possibly from a stab wound. A 25-year-old man is in custody and police are still looking for the other three men.

Victim known to police
Sergeant St-Jacques says it could be a case of vigilantism.

Police received a complaint against the victim two days ago for sexual assault on a minor. "He was a supect in that case, and there's a possibility there's a relation with that sexual assualt and the murder," St-Jacques says.

The suspect will appear in court in Laval on Wednesday afternoon. ..more.. by CBC News

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Two arrests in suspected vigilantism killing
4-26-2001 Canada:
Two men have been charged in connection with what could be a case of vigilante justice. Michel Richer and Eric Savard have both been charged with assault with a weapon. The victim, Michel Latendresse, was beaten with baseball bats and died in hospital soon after.

Latendresse was being investigated for sexually touching a minor.

Crown Prosecutor Pierre Teasdale says the men may face more severe charges later. "I know very partially what happened," says Teasdale.

"I know that someone died, and people have different implications, that's the reason why the accused ... is charged with assault. Armed assault," he says. Teasdale points out that based on the evidence police have to date those are the only charges which could have been laid.

Police are still searching for the other men they suspect took part in the attack.

Family ties

Laval police say Michel Richer has close ties to the family of the alleged sexual assault victim.

Eric Savard of Laval was arraigned just hours after Richer, on the same charge. He does not have any apparent connection to the alleged sexual assault victim.

Authorities were still seeking two other men in the death of Michel Latendresse. He was battered with a baseball bat and stabbed behind his apartment building on Tuesday evening. ..more.. by CBC News

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Third suspect in possible vigilantism killing steps forward
4-27-2001 Canada:
A third suspect has turned himself in to police in connection with the beating death of Michel Latendresse. Pierre-Luc Sirois-Favreau surrendered late on Thursday night in the murder that police suspect might be a case of vigilantism.

Laval police are still looking for a fourth man by the name of Michel Chatillon. Two other men arrested in the case, Michel Richer and Eric Savard have been granted bail.

They have both been charged with assault with a weapon. The victim, Michel Latendresse, was beaten with baseball bats and died in hospital soon after.

Latendresse was being investigated for sexually touching a minor.

Crown prosecutor Pierre Teasdale says the two men already charged may face more severe charges later. "I know very partially what happened," says Teasdale.

A third suspect has turned himself in to police in connection with the beating death of Michel Latendresse.
Pierre-Luc Sirois-Favreau surrendered late on Thursday night in the murder that police suspect might be a case of vigilantism.

Laval police are still looking for a fourth man by the name of Michel Chatillon. Two other men arrested in the case, Michel Richer and Eric Savard have been granted bail.

They have both been charged with assault with a weapon. The victim, Michel Latendresse, was beaten with baseball bats and died in hospital soon after.

Latendresse was being investigated for sexually touching a minor.

Crown prosecutor Pierre Teasdale says the two men already charged may face more severe charges later.

"I know very partially what happened," says Teasdale.

"I know that someone died, and people have different implications. That's the reason why the accused ... is charged with assault. Armed assault," he says. Teasdale points out that based on the evidence police have to date, those are the only charges that could have been laid.

Police are still searching for the other men they suspect took part in the attack.

Family ties

Laval police say Richer has close ties to the family of the alleged sexual assault victim.

Savard of Laval was arraigned just hours after Richer, on the same charge. He does not have any apparent connection to the alleged sexual assault victim.

Authorities were still seeking two other men in the death of Latendresse. He was battered with a baseball bat and stabbed, behind his apartment building on Tuesday evening. ..more.. by CBC News