"A High Risk for Sexual Re-offending": Paul Bernardo Denied Parole a Second Time, CTV News Channel, June 22, 2021

Name: "A High Risk for Sexual Re-offending": Paul Bernardo Denied Parole a Second Time, CTV News Channel, June 22, 2021
Uploaded: 2021-06-22T00:00:00Z
Duration: 3 min 50 s
Description: CTV News Channel's breaking report minutes after the Parole Board of Canada denied Paul Bernardo day and full parole for the second time, on June 22, 2021, with the board's reasons and the families' statements.

CTV News Channel's breaking report minutes after the Parole Board of Canada denied Paul Bernardo day and full parole for the second time, on June 22, 2021, with the board's reasons and the families' statements.

Subject: Paul Kenneth Bernardo
Recorded: about June 22, 2021
Runtime: 3:50

Content warning: Concerns the murders of two teenage girls, the dismemberment of their bodies, and sexual offenses; no graphic description beyond that.

The Interview

This is not an interview, and Paul Bernardo is not heard in it: Parole Board of Canada hearings are not broadcast. It is CTV News Channel's breaking-news report from the afternoon of June 22, 2021, minutes after the board denied Bernardo day parole and full parole for the second time. Anchor Todd van der Heyden hands over to a CTV reporter (introduced as Angie Seth; name as heard), who reads the board's decision and summarizes the hearing.

Historical Context

Bernardo was convicted on September 1, 1995, of the first-degree murders of Leslie Mahaffy, 14, and Kristen French, 15, and of related offenses, and was sentenced to life with no parole for 25 years. Later in 1995 he was designated a dangerous offender. He became eligible for full parole in 2018 and was denied day and full parole on October 17, 2018. The hearing in this report was his second.

Circumstances

According to Canadian Press reporting on the day, the board deliberated for about an hour before hearing officer Maureen Gauci delivered the decision. Kristen French's parents gave statements, and Debbie Mahaffy's statement was read by the families' lawyer, Tim Danson. Bernardo was then held at Millhaven Institution in eastern Ontario.

What the Recording Covers

The reporter reads the board's decision: "Our decision today is to deny day parole and full parole," noting that Bernardo's "understanding and insight remains limited" and that he remained "a high risk for sexual re-offending." She reports that both families quoted Justice LeSage's 1995 ruling on the dangerous offender application, including "You are a sexually sadistic psychopath." A brief passage, possibly a clip or a quotation from a family statement, recalls that the bodies were encased in cement and says the crimes were "not a spur-of-the-moment, one-day spree." The reporter then paraphrases Bernardo's lengthy statement: an apology to "everyone I put through that sickening and horrific ordeal," a claim to be accountable, and his description of himself as a first-time offender. She recaps his crimes, notes the families' long effort to gain access to the parole file and hearing recordings, and says he could apply again in about two to two and a half years.

What Makes the Recording Significant

It records the board's own words on the day of the decision and the families' use of Justice LeSage's 1995 ruling, which they cited again at later hearings. Bernardo's claims in his statement are given only as the reporter's paraphrase and an on-screen quotation.

Archival Importance

Same-day national coverage of Bernardo's second parole denial, from the broadcaster's own archive.

Important Caveats

Bernardo is not heard. His statement is paraphrased, and his calling himself "virtuous" depends on the machine transcription and should be checked by ear. The reporter's name is as heard and not confirmed from a graphic. The speaker of the passage at 2:00 is not identified. The anchor says the first denial was "two years ago"; it was October 2018, about two years and eight months earlier, as the reporter says. The YouTube title's "teen killer" refers to the ages of his victims; Bernardo was in his twenties.

Todd Van Der Heyden: Good to have you with us here on CTV News Channel. I'm Todd van der Heyden. It's two o'clock Eastern, 11 Pacific. Breaking news involving one of our country's most notorious killers, Paul Bernardo. He has just been denied parole again. Marks the second time Bernardo has been denied freedom. His first was two years ago, and that was rejected in just 30 minutes. Bernardo is serving a life sentence for his crimes in the 1980s and early 1990s that included kidnapping, torture, and the killing of these two young women: Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy. It happened near St. Catharines, Ontario. Let's bring in CTV's Angie Seth, who's standing by with more on this breaking news. Angie?

Angie Seth: Yeah, good to see you, Todd. So I'm just going to read you a statement that we've just released here. This is from the parole board saying, quote, "Our decision today is to deny day parole and full parole. While you have participated in programming, your understanding and insight remains limited. And as a result, we concur with the assessments: you remain to be a high risk for sexual re-offending." So that is a statement coming in from Maureen Gauci. That is from the parole board, based on their decision that they made today. And as you mentioned there, this is Paul Bernardo's second attempt at freedom. His first was over two and a half years ago. At the time it took the panel about 30 minutes or so to deliberate that decision.

Angie Seth: Both families, we know, today read their victim impact statements, reliving again that horrific loss of their daughters, never being able to experience the milestones in their lives, never having any real closure. And in those statements, they both, the French and Mahaffy families, quoted Justice LeSage, the same judge who presided at Bernardo's dangerous offender application back in 1995. And he said, quote, "Mr. Bernardo, you have no right to ever be released. The behavioral restraint that you require is jail. You require it, in my view, to be in jail for the rest of your natural life. You are a sexually sadistic psychopath."

Unidentified Speaker: Remember, he encased their bodies in cement after dismembering them. I mean, I know we're in a different day and age of low self-esteem, in a different culture, but it doesn't matter whether you're in 1995 or 2021. This was not a spur-of-the-moment, one-day spree. So he would have to delve into the reasons he did this.

Angie Seth: And in terms of that reasoning, Bernardo also released a very lengthy statement that he spoke about, and this is a little bit, in part, here, where he says he sincerely apologized to "everyone I put through that sickening and horrific ordeal." He said that he was accountable for every offense he did, referring to himself as a first-time offender, as well as saying that he is virtuous. That sickening and horrific ordeal, of course, we know dates back to his 1995 conviction and life sentence for his crimes, as we mentioned there, in the '80s and '90s, including the kidnapping and torturing of Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy near St. Catharines, Ontario, also in addition to the raping of 14 other women and the death of Karla Homolka's 15-year-old sister, Tammy.

Angie Seth: In every parole hearing, this being his second, the board would have had access, and they do have access, to thousands of pages in Bernardo's case that include risk assessments. Those records remain private. However, the Mahaffy and French families have been fighting for years to have access to this entire file, Todd, and those documents would include transcripts, audio and video recording of the parole hearing, as well as any other materials pertaining to his case. So as it stands right now, Todd, he has been denied once again, both full and day parole. However, we would be looping back on this once again in about two, two and a half years, as he'll have another chance to reapply for this, standard practice. But again, for now, he remains in jail. ---