For the second time in less than three years, Paul Bernardo has been denied parole. The Parole Board of Canada made the right call, choosing to keep a sexual sadist who raped a still-unknown number of young women and kidnapped, tortured, and murdered 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy and 15-year-old Kristen French, behind bars.
As Kristen’s parents, Donna and Doug French, pointed out in their victim impact statement, “there is no cure for sexually sadistic psychopaths.” More than that, Bernardo’s comments at his parole hearing reveal a still deeply delusional, narcissistic, unrepentant, and ultimately dangerous individual.
In a lengthy presentation, Bernardo, now 56, asked the board for full parole and anti-sex drive medication, also known as chemical castration. He framed his willingness to take these drugs as “indicative of the virtuous person I am” and touted his supposed “emotional management skills,” which include “mindfulness,” “praying to the rosary every day,” and “not even watch(ing) TV.”
Board member Matt O’Brien called these self-management plans “confusing and unwieldy,” and apparently generated without any advice of the professionals he has access to while incarcerated.
Bernardo also sought credit for being “nothing but good to female staff and female guards,” aka not assaulting them during his time in prison. Tim Danson, attorney for the Mahaffy and French families, called Bernardo’s comments “glib,” “sanctimonious,” and “offensive” in a post-hearing press conference.
More disturbingly, Bernardo used the occasion to rehash, in front of Mahaffy’s and French’s families, some of the despicable acts leading up to one of his victim’s death. Then, a few breaths later, he attempted to convince the parole board that he has “a lot of empathy” and, if released, “will make everybody proud.” He doesn’t believe he’s a psychopath or a sexual sadist; instead he blames his actions on “entitlement” and being “a male chauvinist pig.”
[Interesting Read]
See Also:
(1) The farce of a Paul Bernardo parole hearing
