There are reasons beyond salaciousness to revive the story of Paul Bernardo

National Post ^ | July 3, 2014 | Christie Blatchford

[Squawk 8888]

It’s the story that just won’t go away, and more’s the pity.

Most often, it’s been the convicted felon Karla Homolka who has unpleasantly floated to the surface of public consciousness now and then — now with the news of her marriage (to the brother of her Montreal prison lawyer, o sweet justice!), then that she was a mother, most recently two years ago when journalist Paula Todd tracked her down to the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, where she lives with her hubby and their three youngsters.

But this time it’s Homolka’s ex, the serial killer and rapist Paul Bernardo, who made news this week when the Toronto Sun reported that he was planning to marry, his new bride a 30-year-old London, Ont., woman.

Mercifully, the paper didn’t identify her by name, it appears out of deference to her alleged mental fragility.

She allegedly has told friends that the man she’s been writing to for months is a kind, Christian fellow she believes to be innocent and that she has “wedding bands,” as well as a jaunty ankle tattoo that reads “Paul’s girl.”

For the uninitiated, Bernardo and Homolka formed a girl killing machine back in the early 1990s.

They started off with Homolka’s little sister, Tammy (she was drugged and sexually assaulted by the pair in the Homolka family home, then choked to death on her own vomit), before moving onto complete strangers (Burlington’s Leslie Mahaffy, who was just 14, and Kristen French, whom the pair kidnapped off the street in St. Catharines, Ont.).

Homolka struck a controversial plea bargain and was sentenced to 12 years for her role in the three deaths; two years later, in the summer of 1995, Bernardo went on trial for two counts of first-degree murder.

[vladimir998]

Other than the Christian-Newsom murders this was one of the most horrifying series of torturous crimes I had ever heard of.

[Squawk 8888]

To all- please ping me to Canadian topics.

Canada Ping!

[GeronL]

They sound like such upstanding citizens... not.

[Fungi]

I remember reading about this in Maclean's. The case was so gruesome that the judge put a lock on public access to the details of the crime if I am not mistaken. A really terrible crime.

[doug from upland]

A lifetime ago I knew a guy named Paul Bernardo. He owned one of these — http://www.supercars.net/cars/499.html

What an amazing machine.

[laconic]

This is a horrible, evil man. He is so bad that the convicted felons in his prison broke out of their cells in an attempt to kill him (they would not share space with this creature) and it took a lot of force to stop them from getting to Bernardo.

[jocon307]

I’m most sorry they did not succeed. I’m sure the fact that they tried will count towards a good score when those fellow meet the final judgment day.

And this man who has married this evil woman needs to have his head examined.

[DemforBush]

Homolka is arguably worse than Bernardo. Both are psychopaths, but Homolka is so far gone that even the female inmate she slept with in prison found her to be more than a little scary sometimes.

As for the head-shrinker’s take on Karla... (from wikipedia)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karla_Homolka#Prison

“a certain moral vacuity” is a bit of an understatement.

[okie01]

The case was so gruesome that the judge put a lock on public access to the details of the crime if I am not mistaken. A really terrible crime.

Eventually, the judge ordered the evidence destroyed -- and the videos and other physical evidence were ceremonially burned, with the victims' families in attendance. <

Crimes too horrid to retain a record...

[DemforBush]

To quote Donald Pleasance from Halloween: "I spent eight years trying to reach him, and then another seven trying to keep him locked up because I realized that what was living behind that boy's eyes was purely and simply... evil."

[cherry]

and IIRC, her lawyer held back a video that showed Holmolka actively participating in the torture and killing of her baby sister....she got a sweet plea bargin because she was just a "bystander" and not the real culprit...bullshit.....

and now isn't that nice that she's off to the Caribean living the dream....

does she ever think of the evil she did?....or her little sister?....

evil....indefensively evil..

[GeronL]

bump

[Robwin]

The both of them were demented sociopaths and in a civilized system both would have been executed for their heinous crimes.

[PGalt]

Thanks for posting. I’ve read about them (Paul & Karla) before. I did not know any of this recent stuff. BUMP!

[vladimir998]

I’ve always wondered how Homolka’s parents felt. Seriously, one of their daughters helped rape and kill they other. I can’t imagine how horrible that was.