Newsweek Details Homolka [LONG]
acarlan
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Reprinted Without Permission
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The Barbie-Ken Murders
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Canada: Blacking out a horror story
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The hottest newspaper in Canada last week was Tuesday's edition of The
Washington Post, which isn't even published there. The Post carried a
meticulously detailed story on one of the most horrific murder cases in
Canadian history--a series of sex-and-torture killings allegedly
committed by a handsome young middle-class couple. The appalling facts
of the case have been suppressed by an Ontario judge, who sent the wife
to prison for manslaughter, banning publication of most of the facts so
her husband can get a fair trial. That trial won't be held until next
year, or possibly later, and meantime the "Barbie and Ken" murder case,
as some people call it, has been driven underground. Details filter into
everyday gossip from computer bulletin boards and databases and from
foreign news media that a are beyond the judge's reach. So far, however,
Canadian news organizations have maintained a nearly perfect blackout,
despite the misgivings of some-- and the fact that the accused husband
wants the story told.
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The Canadian public is allowed to know that Karla Homolka, a
veterinarian's assistant who is now 23 years old, was sentenced to 12
years in prison last July in the abduction and murder of two teenage
girls. One of them was found, hacked to pieces, on the day of Homolka's
lavish 1991 wedding to Paul Bernardo, who changed his name to Teale last
January, not long before his arrest, also has been charged in a series of
rapes dating back to 1982. ...
What Canadians are not supposed to know is that Homolka pleaded guilty.
She will be eligible for parole in only four years, which suggests that
she has agreed to testify against her husband, from whom she separated
after he reportedly beat her up. Justice Francis Kovacs prohibited
publication of most of the sickening evidence revealed at Homolka's
trial, but details of the case have been pieced together by the Post's
Anne Swardson, by other foreign journalists and by the American
television show "A Current Affair." According to these accounts, one of
the victims, 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, was sexually assaulted for
perhaps two days before she was strangled. The other victim, Kristen
French, 15, was kept alive for 13 days before she died; according to the
Post, it was revealed at Homolka's trial that Kristen had been shown a
videotape of Leslie's suffering. Another account said that, to keep them
from escaping, both girls were hobble by their abductors, who used
veterinary surgical instruments to sever tendons in their legs. ...
Accounts of the trial said that, even before they were married, Karla was
helping to find girls for Paul to have sex with. Her own 14-year-old
sister Tammy "was to be Paul's Christmas present," the Post said. As the
newspaper described it, Tammy was knocked unconscious with an animal
tranquilizer on Dec. 23, 1990, during a party at her parents' home in
Saint Catherines, Ontario. According to this account, Paul and Karla
each had sex with her unconscious body, videotaping the acts. Then Tammy
began to vomit, eventually choking to death. A local coroner ruled the
death accidental, but after Homolka's trial the girl's body was exhumed
for further investigation.
...
At Karla's trial, the prosecutor read a long statement of facts that had
been agreed to by the defense. Foreign journalists were excluded from
the courtroom; Canadian reporters were allowed to hear the evidence but
were prohibited from publishing most of it until after Teale's trial.
The ban applies only in Canada (copies of Newsweek distributed there do
not contain this story).
...
The facts to which Homolka admitted "left seasoned law- enforcement
officers and journalists in tears," the Post reported. Justice Kovacs
said that his publication ban was intended to "balance the freedom of the
press and the right of Paul Teale to a fair trial." Many Canadians find
the restriction reasonable, and some relatives of the victims say they
are grateful for it. "We keep going through this again and again,"
Debbie Mahaffy, Leslie's mother, said last week. "How many times do we
have to relive our daughter's death?"
...
There are serious grounds on which to criticize the judge's ban,
including the public's right to know about court proceedings in a timely
manner. The blackout prevents Canadians from forming an opinion on the
appropriateness of Homolka's sentence. Teale's attorneys think the ban
also hurts their case. "We feel that [Karla] has been portrayed as the
victim of her husband," says Timothy Breen, a member of the defense
team. "Publicity of her trial would cure that misconception." In any
event, the Teale- Homolka case is simply too lurid to be kept secret for
long. People are naturally curious, and in Canada, 80 percent of the
population lives within 200 miles of the porous U.S. border. News
travels more quickly and easily than any other commodity. In the age of
the global village, no democratic society can wall itself off entirely,
even from a story that most people wish they had never heard about. ...
Russell Watson with Linda Kay in Montreal and bureau reports
Newsweek in owned by the Washington Post
The most important development since the articles appeared a year ago has
been the discovery of the tapes. They are independent coorboratory
evidence. Therefore, Kovacs decision to grant the Crown's plea bargain,
which necessitated the gag, has proven to be premature. The Ontario
Minister of Justice, a Mrs. Boyd is being widely criticized now for her
aggressive interference in the case. Her continued suppression of the
case, which now includes her role, is to this writer's view self-serving.
He would suggest Mrs. Boyd remove herself entirely from the trial and
appoint a widely respected, non-political special prosecutor with
extraordinary powers to represent the ministry in the case.
If this is not detailed enough, alt.fan.karla-homolka had a FAQ posted
sometime ago. It may be in their archives now. Please tell them that
their discussion is quite serious and the name of their group is
inappropriate. We are not "fans" of Karla Homolka. We are fans of due
process.
:
IF THERE ARE ANY MORE GROUPS THAT WOULD BE INTERESTED IN THIS ARTICLE
PLEASE FORWARD IT TO THEM AND TELL ME SO I CAN INCLUDE THAT GROUP IN ANY
FUTURE MAILINGS.
If any group does not want any more information on the Homolka case, I
apologize for this mailing and will not mail anything further.
aca...@panix.com
Baldwin, NY
Esq [For identification only]