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Emotional day in Homolka's hometown
Canadian Press via Sun Media ^ | 2005-07-05 | Tara Brautigam

Posted on 07/05/2005 2:56:08 AM PDT by Clive

ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - Rage, sorrow and grudging acceptance were expressed by residents in the lakeside hometown of Canada's most notorious female killer as Karla Homolka was freed from a Quebec prison Monday and slipped back into public life.

In St. Catharines, Ont., where all of Homolka's shocking crimes were committed, a handful of people at a laundromat stood in stunned silence as a television reported news of her release.

"Dear God, hell," Ann Pettay, 65, said as she folded blankets with her husband, Karl.

"I think it's a disgrace. I think she should have never got out and I fear for my grandchildren and all children."

No one answered the door at the Homolka family household, but her sister Lori could be seen sitting on a lawn chair in the backyard near a swimming pool, her head down.

Neighbours watched from windows and driveways to see a growing hive of media activity. One was highly protective.

"Leave them alone," a next-door neighbour said while tending to his garden, before swearing at and threatening a pair of reporters.

Some residents of this city of 130,000 on the southern shore of Lake Ontario simply shook their heads, fuming that this day should never have come.

"Frankly, I hope that someone does get her - she's a sick puppy," said Sarah Learn, a 25-year-old bartender in the city's downtown area.

"I don't usually wish death upon people, but some people deserve it."

Said retiree Mollie Lavelle: "I guess she served her sentence. Now she'll have to serve it outside, won't she?"

"I don't think it'll be easy for her, but that's what you do. If you live by the sword, you will die by it."

Others hoped the completion of Homolka's prison sentence would finally allow the community to move past the memories of her crimes.

"I think she served her time," said Kevin Clatney, sitting near a downtown library. "She served every day and she's done her penance."

"What else can she do?"

But Tom Rathbone, a 53-year-old manual labourer and St. Catharines native, said the emotional scars left by Homolka's involvement in the deaths of teenage schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy and her 15-year-old sister Tammy would last for decades.

"I think people will always remember that, but maybe a couple of generations down the road, that will change," Rathbone said.

Homolka's release comes thanks to a plea deal she struck with Ontario Crown lawyers in 1993, when she admitted to two counts of manslaughter in exchange for testifying against ex-husband Paul Bernardo, who was ultimately convicted of two counts of first-degree murder.

In sentencing Homolka, the court also took into consideration her role in the 1990 death of Tammy, who died on Christmas Eve after Homolka held a drug-soaked cloth over her face so Bernardo could rape her in her parents' bungalow.

St. Catharines, nicknamed the Garden City for its tree-lined streets that invite a mix of young families and retiring couples, has been acutely shaken.

"When the girls (French and Mahaffy) were found, it broke everybody up," Learn said.

"I was in seventh grade when it happened, and I remember my principal crying over the announcements . . . he was just bawling his eyes out and all of us cried about it."

Since then, the city has carried a collective sense of guilt for the killings, Learn added.

"Nobody wants to admit that it ever really happened because we just don't want it to happen again," she said.

"I think we all feel to some degree responsible that it happened, like somebody should've seen something or known something, and nobody did anything."

With Homolka now out of prison, fears of the 35-year-old convicted killer's return have heightened.

"Nobody wants to go out and suddenly come upon her," Lavelle said.


TOPICS: Canada; Crime/Corruption; Extended News
KEYWORDS: homolka
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To: tahotdog
The entire picture the media paints of this story, as it pertains to Homolka, appears to be a bunch of BS.

You say it's BS because someöne has posted a opinion on an internet boatd that it's BS? (Just Checking)

41 posted on 07/05/2005 7:35:17 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong. = Voltaire)
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To: stylecouncilor

ping


42 posted on 07/05/2005 7:54:27 AM PDT by windcliff
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To: Clive

Did anyone happen to notice that today would have been Leslie Mahaffy's birthday? I thought it was deplorable that Karla was released at the end of the school year, but this is almost too much to bear.

Please think of the families of the victims and say a prayer for them today. They are the ones that should be remembered.


43 posted on 07/05/2005 8:07:10 AM PDT by timsbella
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To: tahotdog

"Those videos were all clearly scripted and two of the three jurors who were ever interviewed after the trial felt that Homolka was being manipulated."

Really? How do you manipulate an older sister into allowing a younger sister to be raped? I can't even imagine myself drugging, sedating, and allowing my younger sister to be raped by my hubby. This _itch is evil and deserves the backlash she will get from the public.


44 posted on 07/05/2005 8:23:20 AM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
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To: Arpege92
Really? How do you manipulate an older sister into allowing a younger sister to be raped?

Constant beatings, fear, terror, psychological control techniques, brainwashing (induced post traumatic stress disorder)..... Why?

45 posted on 07/05/2005 8:38:53 AM PDT by tahotdog
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To: tahotdog

Bull! Karla was just as eager as her sicko husband. Karla was actually wearing her sisters close for Paul so that they could re-enact the rape. Karla needs to be sitting in a jail cell for the rest of her life....and all you are doing is making excuses for her behavior.


46 posted on 07/05/2005 8:48:30 AM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
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To: Arpege92

I'm not going to keep on repeating the same stuff. I've posted links to real information on this story. This is a case of a brainwashed girl and a national hate fest promulgated by an out of control media seemingly intent on killing or causing the death of a defenseless woman.


47 posted on 07/05/2005 8:55:59 AM PDT by tahotdog
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To: tahotdog

Defenseless young woman? Let's end the debate here....I'm afraid that my response to that line will cause me to be kicked off of FR.


48 posted on 07/05/2005 9:02:44 AM PDT by Arpege92 ("I am happy, be it yourselves." - Pope John Paul II)
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To: tahotdog; Darksheare; meowmeow; Constitution Day; 4mycountry; Poohbah; Grampa Dave; ...

Kitties! You have your Orders!

49 posted on 07/05/2005 9:22:06 AM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (Have you gotten your Viking Kittie Patch today? http://www.visualops.com/patch.html)
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To: tahotdog
OK, when you commit a crime, do you dissassociate yourself from your mind and body? Do you not know you are commiting the crime?

The fact is, she did do it. AND the fact is, she may not do the crime again, I am sure there a a lot of people who do not want this person near thier communities.

50 posted on 07/05/2005 9:29:00 AM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (Have you gotten your Viking Kittie Patch today? http://www.visualops.com/patch.html)
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To: tahotdog; Zavien Doombringer; 4mycountry; Constitution Day; VRWCmember; Poohbah; dighton; ...

Hey, you! One-note Charlie! Who cares!? Go find somewhere else to peddle your snake oil!


51 posted on 07/05/2005 9:47:35 AM PDT by mhking (The world needs a wake up call gentlemen...we're gonna phone it in.)
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To: Zavien Doombringer
The one other story I know of which is comparable is that of Patty Hearst. Some of Hearst's commentary on the Elizabeth Smart case are worth noting:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/West/03/13/life.after.kidnapping/

"There's no question at the time of the abduction she was in fear, and was fearful for a period of time," said Salt Lake City Police Chief Rick Dinse.

He also said the fact that she was walking around with the couple in an area where she might have been able to escape indicted that they had some sort of psychological control over her.

Patricia Hearst Shaw understands what that is like. She was a college student when she was kidnapped from her apartment in 1974, imprisoned in a closet, sexually assaulted and forced to participate in a bank robbery before being freed.

"You have been so abused and so robbed of your free will and so frightened that you come to a point that you believe any lie that your abductor has told you. You don't feel safe. You think that either you will be killed if you reach out for help, or you believe your family will be killed," said Hearst.

"You've, in a way, given up, you've absorbed the new identity they've given you. You're surviving -- you're not even doing that � you're just living while everything else is going on around you," she said.

Hearst said that for some time after Elizabeth is back with her family she may still believe "her kidnappers have some sort control over her."

Hearst said she didn't feel free until she faced her abductors in court and "knew for sure that they could never, ever hurt me again."

Elizabeth's father, Ed Smart, also believes his daughter was brainwashed. He and his family have not pressed her for details to spare her further trauma.

The Patty Hearst conviction struck me as a flagrant miscarriage of justice at the time, so much so that had I been the judge I'd have set the jury verdict aside without a second's hesitation. You had a case in which a very naiive 20-year old girl had been subjected to techniques which broke down trained soldiers in the Korean war and the criteria of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt was clearly not met.

The cases of Homolka and Smart are entirely similar. They walk around entraped in whatever it is ignoring obvious chances to escape, and this is incomprehensible to most people but, at some point, the control had become internalized.

Homolka's words on her interview last night tell much of the story:

Napier: You said a few minutes ago that you will always have to live with what you did. Do you feel any remorse?

Homolka: Yes.

Napier: How does it manifest itself, that remorse?

Homolka: I cry often. I can't forgive myself. I think about what I did and often I think I don't deserve to be happy because of what I did.

Napier: How do you judge now what you did? When you think about it, how do you judge yourself?

Homolka: What I did was terrible and I was in a situation where I was unable to see clearly, where I was unable to ask for help. Where I was completely overwhelmed in my life and I regret it enormously because now I know I had the power to stop all of that. But when I was living through it, I thought I had no power.


52 posted on 07/05/2005 10:09:04 AM PDT by tahotdog
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To: tahotdog
Jailhouse conversion, spiced up with a little pop psychology courtesy of her defense attorney. Happens all the time; doesn't mean a thing.

Sociopaths/psychopaths are quite capable of spinning a convincing yarn about how it Isn't Their Fault.

53 posted on 07/05/2005 10:32:59 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (. . . Ministrix of ye Chace (recess appointment), TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary . . .)
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Comment #54 Removed by Moderator

To: tahotdog
I do not care about the feelings of the perp afterwards. Hindsight is 20/20. You do not need to feel sorry for this person for what she feels now. The hideous acts were already commited. she did have power to stop. It may have cost her, her life. But she could have stopped. that's why she was in jail.

She needs to just go away. I don't care how cute she looks. her eyes are diabolical. Evil is in that woman.

55 posted on 07/05/2005 1:18:48 PM PDT by Zavien Doombringer (Have you gotten your Viking Kittie Patch today? http://www.visualops.com/patch.html)
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To: Zavien Doombringer
There is no room in civil society for this cretin..period.

This is why the death penalty if used properly would indeed be a deterrent. To believe her, she was so obsessed with this darling cretin Paul to offer up her own sisters virginity to keep him and by no fault of her own her sister died...HUMMM... Twisted logic by anyone to believe her battered woman crap.
56 posted on 07/05/2005 1:45:34 PM PDT by alisasny (We get 4 more years, you get OBAMA...: ))
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To: Zavien Doombringer
>...diabolical eyes...

At the time that picture was taken the woman had been using food to flavor her valium with just in order to function. That WILL produce a glazed look in somebody's eyes...

57 posted on 07/05/2005 4:13:26 PM PDT by tahotdog
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To: All
Seems like the anglophone part of Canada isn't the whole story...
MONTREAL (CP) - Karla Homolka's calculated appeal to French Canada appeared to hit her target audience Tuesday, with many francophone Montrealers ready to give the sex killer a second chance in her adopted province.

Homolka may be one of the most despised figures in Ontario and the rest of English Canada, but many Quebecers say they see a repentant woman who is clearly haunted by her crimes.

The ex-convict went on Radio-Canada on Monday with a French-only plea for the breathing room to start a normal life a few hours after completing her entire 12-year sentence for manslaughter. .....

...The Quebec press council denounced English media coverage of Homolka's release, particularly the desire of some news organizations to follow Homolka. The council said it demonstrated ethical differences between Ontario and Quebec news organizations...

I mean, the American media is messed up enough, but I never saw the American media try to kill anybody or get anybody killed for no rational reason.

58 posted on 07/05/2005 4:19:02 PM PDT by tahotdog
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To: tahotdog
"I mean, the American media is messed up enough, but I never saw the American media try to kill anybody or get anybody killed for no rational reason."

Seemingly, a sincere desire for simple justice would constitute a 'rational reason' .... at least to all save gender-bigoted newbie trolls.

Most strongly suggest you peddle your sexist - 'all women are victims' - feminist crap elsewhere dear.

59 posted on 07/05/2005 6:51:35 PM PDT by GMMAC (paraphrasing Parrish: "damned Liberals, I hate those bastards!")
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To: GMMAC
All women are not victims, but this one was. Moreover I am not a newbie on FR or a troll of any sort. I am simply somebody who generally makes the effort to understand what is going on in the world and it sometimes happens that what is actually happening and what you read in the media are separate realities, as we all know in the political arena; it's astounding that anybody on FR would have so difficult a time believing that the same thing happens in other areas of life.

If Robert Hare and others are correct and psychopaths have different EEG signatures from normal people, then it might actually make sense to devise some sort of foolproof test for it and brand these people with a capital 'P' on their foreheads or something like that when they're five or six years old so the rest of us can have an easy time avoiding them.

In the case of Paul Bernardo, the total price tag for having one psychopath being unrecognizable comes to a couple of dozen brutally raped women, at least three dead bodies and probably more like five or six, one totally innocent guy (Baltovich) spending eight or nine years in prison for one of Bernardo's murders and still facing a second trial without anybody saying word one about questioning Bernardo on the matter, and a woman just now getting out of prison after twelve years for her part in this whole mess which almost certainly involved brainwashing or something entirely similar to that.

That's too high a price for to pay for whatever political correctness might arise from having defective people walking around unmarked and undifferentiated.

60 posted on 07/05/2005 8:04:35 PM PDT by tahotdog
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