Thursday, February 08, 2007
Lawyers and others close to Karla Homolka said yesterday they knew nothing about reports the released sex killer had recently given birth.
Tim Danson, who represents the families of two of Ms. Homolka's victims, said he understood the woman's father, Karel Homolka, had publicly suggested that Ms. Homolka had had a baby, though the lawyer said he was skeptical about the report.
The story was news to Ruth Gagnon, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of Quebec, the offender social service agency that helped Ms. Homolka when she was still in prison and since she was released in July, 2005.
"I don't know where this information came from," she said. "I think it is some sort of rumour. I have no information ? It's the first time I've heard about this."
Sylvie Bordelais, Ms. Homolka's lawyer in CanWest, said all she knew was what she learned from reporters and a CanWest radio station.
"I don't have any clue right no w," she said last night.
Ms. Homolka served a 12-year sentence after pleading guilty to her part in the kidnapping and murder of schoolgirls Kristen French, 15, and Leslie Mahaffy, 14. She later was the prosecution's key witness in the trial of her husband, Paul Bernardo, who was convicted of murder in the deaths and is serving a life sentence.
The Crown initially convinced a Quebec judge to impose certain conditions on her freedom under a section of the Criminal Code that applies to ex-convicts who have served their entire term, but that decision was overturned on appeal.
Ms. Homolka's name has continued to surface in the news periodically since her controversial release, but little is known about her life on the outside. A TV reporter found her in a CanWest neighbourhood last summer, but she refused to talk.
Ms. Gagnon of the Elizabeth Fry Society said her client should be left alone.
"It's important that people who leave prison have a private life so they can rebuild their lives," she said. "As long as they respect the law and are good citizens, I think that it's their business."
Tblackwell@nationalpost.com