When Will It Ever End?

We Canadians pride ourselves on our sensibilities. To give her attention is to glorify her. Here is a woman who aided her husband,
Paul Bernardo, in killing three innocent young girls in the most infamous sex crimes Canada has ever seen. Let us not forget that one of these young girls was her own sister, Tammy. We were disgusted when Los Angeles producer Michael Sellers announced his film Karla. There was a public outcry not to have the film released in Canada. Yet, the woman still manages to make headlines.

The mystery of where Homolka would reside was talked about ad nauseam. You saw the TV coverage. Homolka was expected to live in Montreal. The media insisted French Quebecers were okay with her residence here. From what I could tell, they interviewed two French speaking individuals. I would like to know who the rest were since I certainly don't know them. My family is French and none of us liked the idea she would be living next to us. My French friends were not that crazy about it either. In fact, when it was suggested that she would reside in the Montreal community of Notre Dame De Grace (NDG), the people of that community (incidentally Matt lives there) were outraged.

The citizens of NDG organized a protest to keep her out. They also wanted the authorities to reveal her exact whereabouts. That way, all citizens could protect their children while keeping a watchful eye upon her. Her lawyers argued it would be against her civil rights to divulge this information. I am all for civil rights, but what happened to Tammy's, Lesley's and Kristen's?

We were left in suspense until a few days ago. Then rumours surfaced Karla was sighted working in Longueuil and living in a rundown apartment in Montreal paid for by an unnamed benefactor. Apparently, she is not out of the lime light yet, and now her Longueuil ex boss wants to be part of it as well.

Richier Lapointe, owner of a hardware store hired her. Now he claims she has violated the conditions of her release. Lapointe, a known criminal himself, has released tapes between the two of them to the police. The tapes reveal that Homolka has been keeping in contact with a convict at Ste. Anne Des Plaines penitentiary north of Montreal.

Whether true or not, I wonder how admissible these tapes are in court. Lapointe hide the recorder in an empty paint can. Probably since not facilitated by an agent of the law, this sneaky behaviour on behalf of Lapointe would not be considered entrapment in the legal sense of the word. But in layman's terms it reeks of it. Some Montrealers wonder when Lapointe sought out Homolka in the first place did he intend on setting her up?

Don't get me wrong, I will never defend Karla, and if she is found guilty, she will face up to an additional two year prison term. The publicity is so bad right now, that Lapointe has lost his hardware store, which Karla incidentally quit after the do do hit the fan. The hardware giant Rona, has washed their hands of him and his dirty laundry.

Whether Karla is guilty or not, the courts will decide, but Montrealers have had enough. We want her out of our newspapers and out of our lives.

Now Richier Lapointe is a different matter. He wants to live in Ste Catharines, Ontario, because he feels empathy towards the families of the victims in question. Perhaps one day either or both of them will be a neighbour of your community. For now however, Montrealers would just like some piece and quiet.