Woman who helped rape and kill her own sister to go free in Quebec
 

Yick! I wanted to take a shower after reading about this creature. Canadian GC'ers, is this huge news up there?

The woman known as Canada's schoolgirl killer wept at a court hearing to decide how free she will be when released from prison next month.

Karla Homolka, 35, sobbed as details of the horrific crimes, including her role in the death of her sister, were read to a packed courtroom in Joliette, Quebec...Rest of story here

"At the hearing, it was decided that among the restrictions, she would have to submit a DNA sample and cannot leave Quebec without giving notice to authorities.

Why would they want to keep her?

Actually, I understand the reason, but I'd want to ship her to the farthest corners of the world.

You just reminded me of the movie Slap Shot:

"What with the notariety, the publicity, his deportation to Canada, and that country's refusal to accept him, why, that's more than most eighteen-year-olds can handle!"


Seriously, she's gotten away with murder, in the very worst of ways!

Classic! One of my alltime favorite movie lines!

Oh... she and husband have been big news for a while- link to the timeline of their relationship/crimes:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bernardo/index.html
The page also has links to many other articles relating to their crimes and legal saga.

What really freaks me out about her is what she has done while in prison - her "love life" and the fact she managed to get a MA in Psychology.

This is crazy. She served only a dozen years for drugging and helping to rape her sister as well as helping to rape and kill other girls. She should rot in prison for the rest of her life.

She pleaded guilty as part of a deal with the Crown; the Crown needed the testimony in order to convict Paul Bernardo for not only the murders that Karla was a party to, but the rapes that Paul had been committing for years...

I think the Crown got blindsided when the brokered the deal, making the assumption that she wasn't a partner in the crimes, but an unwilling participant (after all it was Paul's beating of her that led her to report him to the police) - after the real story emerged, the Crown couldn't try her again under more serious charges.

The case has had a long and extensive legal saga - including the internation Human Rights Watch getting involved at one point... just browse through the link I provided earlier to get some idea of the legal complexity and scope of the case.

I'm familiar with the case. I think this case was bigger news in the U.S. than Canada because there was a news blackout in Canada if I recall correctly. I remember something about newspapers being confiscated at the borders so the jurors wouldn't be influenced by news coverage.

I remember that she was portrayed as a victim of domestic violence and an unwilling participant in these rapes and killings. When the prosecution finally viewed the videotapes, her true nature as a sociopath with absolutely no conscience and compassion was revealed. Unfortunately, a deal had been made.

At least he is still rotting in prison.

I googled her name and found out that a movie about them has been made and is expected to be released in a few months. I think that I'll pass.

I think that the confiscation and/or media blockage had more to do with the Crown's desire to limit the exposure of the victims families - when they went after a author that wrote a book about the murders, in which he named the victims, the Crown backed down because it would have meant reviewing the tapes in court again - so the Crown bowed to the wishes of the victims faimlies not to show the tapes again.

There was a lot of coverage up here - but selective coverage; the media had strict guidelines about what it could and could not publish... but as in any open society the details of the case and participants/victims did leak out.

I was wondering if anyone would get that quote - you're the best!!

Shocking, yeah...but that "love life" is going to end, since she can't associate with criminals once she's out...

This sounds vaguely familiar-was there an episode on HBO about it? I remember really bad 80's hair and a wedding...

Probably. During the trial they showed a lot of photos of Bernado and Homolka at their wedding.

The crimes took place in Ontario, yet she was imprisioned in Quebec. In the US, criminals are tried and imprisoned in the states where they committed the crimes (unless it's a federal case). Is this not the case in Canada? I didn't see anything in the articles I read addressing this.

She was originally imprisoned in Ontario at Kingston Pen for Women. This prison was closed so she was transfered.