Tony At 10: A CANADIAN IS A CANADIAN???BLOG # 2185 ; FRI APRIL26,2019

THE MESSAGE:

There most certainly are many individuals in Canada who can muster up some degree of empathy for murderers. Or perhaps there are those that think the death penalty is too cruel. There are some who believe that death is far to lenient for perpetrators of horrific crimes and prefer to leave them locked up for life. Others believe the state has no right to take a life. Over the years, Canada has had its share of murderers. I abhor the following examples of such crimes.

THE BLURB:

MICHAEL WENTWORTH

A 65-year-old man allegedly responsible for three murders and a string of other crimes that took place years ago was arrested in eastern Ontario recently, solving a set of cases that had long gone cold.

The charges laid against Michael Wentworth relate to the fatal beating of an elderly woman, the subsequent slayings of two men, a brazen bank robbery and the detonation of an explosive device.

The death of 92-year-old Henrietta Knight, who was seriously injured in a break and enter in Kingston on June 2, 1995, and died that November.

The death of 30-year-old Richard Kimball, who was reported missing in the mid-90s and is presumed dead.

The death of Stephen St-Denis, 47, who died in a suspicious fire in Kingston on Oct. 21, 2001.

A bombing in Toronto on July 19, 2000, which caused heavy damage to homes and vehicles, but no injuries.

An armed robbery at a bank in Kingston Township, now part of the city of Kingston.

BLAKE LEIBEL

He grew up in Forest Hill, Toronto and was convicted on June 26, 2018, for the grisly May 2016 torture murder of his fiancee, Iana Kasian, 30. As the son of billionaire mega-developer, his life had all the distractions and selfish choices of some rich dudes.

The University of Western Ontario graduate was totally spoiled. He bought a mansion in Hollywood, California after high school and was given an unbelievable monthly allowance. Leibel left his wife and children for the attractive Kasian. Unfortunately for her, it came to light that, after she gave birth to their daughter Diana in 2016, the petulant man-tiger became enraged that the three-week old baby was now the centre of his fiancee’s attention.

killer left, victim right

Veteran homicide detectives and the coroner called Kasian’s murder among the most brutal they had ever seen. She had been severely pummelled, her face bitten and her eyebrows cut off as well as one of her ears. Then Leibel drained her body of blood.

CLIFFORD OLSON JR.

Olsen, who was born in 1940, became known as the “Beast of British Columbia.” Over the course of a year in 1980 and 1981, he killed 11 children and teenagers between the age of nine and 18. His standard method of operation was to kidnap the victim, rape them and strangle, stab or bludgeon them to death. These killings took place over such a short time and reached their peak in July 1981 when he killed six.

He was apprehended in August of the same year and struck a plea deal. $10,000 would be put into a trust for his wife and child for each body he helped law enforcement recover. Did many complain? Yes, of course! Olsen was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. He scored a 38 out of 40 on the psychopathic scale (the standard cut-off is 25 to 30).

PAUL BERNARDO AND HOMOLKA

The serial killer and rapist appears little changed from the man who, in 1995, was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for at least 25 years. He tortured and murdered 15-year-old Kristen French after keeping the schoolgirl captive for three days to endure unspeakable sexual horrors. He tortured and murdered and then dismembered the body of 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, encasing the poor girl’s remains in blocks of cement that were tossed into a St. Catharines lake. He was found guilty on two counts each of first-degree murder, kidnapping, forcible confinement, aggravated sexual assault, and one count of committing an indignity to a human body.

The abuse was captured on video. and played for the jury. Bernardo was aided and abetted, in the kidnapping of French, by his wife Karla Homolka. Karla was responsible for the demise of younger sister, Tammy, who was violated, drugged, kept unconscious and eventually murdered. Bernardo, the Scarborough Rapist, ultimately admitted to 14 increasingly violent sexual attacks. Thankfully, his recent parole application was rejected. Sadly Homolka is out on bail.

ANDY BRUCE

Bruce, in hand cuffs above, was given a life sentence in 1970 for shooting dead a young woman in front of her seven-year-old daughter, reportedly over an ounce of heroin. Even before that, Bruce had a lengthy rap sheet that included two sex attacks on strangers. In 1975, Bruce was one of the ringleaders of a hostage-taking and escape attempt at New Westminster’s B.C. Penitentiary that killed 32-year-old social worker Mary Steinhauser, who was being used by Bruce as a human shield. Despite all of this, Bruce was granted full parole in 2010. He was arrested again in 2016 after he was found masturbating at a bus stop and threatening a passersby with a can of pepper spray.

EVELYN DICK

Five children hiking near Albion Falls on March 16, 1946 stumbled upon what first appeared to be a dead pig. It turned out to be a headless and limbless human torso that had been dumped off the side of the escarpment 10 days before. Eventually, a cyst on the torso's posterior and an undescended testicle helped to identify the victim as 39-year-old John Dick.

Evelyn Dick supposedly murdered her husband, tore off his limbs, and discarded what was left of his body. She was acquitted of that crime.

But then there was the matter of her baby, Peter David White, who was suffocated and encased in cement in a suitcase. It was found by police in the attic of Dick's house. Evelyn's mother testified that Dick told her she had given the baby to the Children's Aid Society. Evelyn was convicted of manslaughter and was sentenced to life in prison. She was sent to Kingston's Penitentiary for Women.

Eleven years into her sentence, however, she was released on parole. She then completely disappeared. It is not known if she is dead or still living somewhere in Canada.

THE QUESTION: