Two life sentences for sex killer Williams's 'despicable crimes'
TIMOTHY APPLEBY AND JILL MAHONEY
Globe and Mail Update
Published Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 10:27AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 11:04AM EDT
===================================================
Colonel Russell Williams told a courtroom he deeply regrets his “despicable crimes” but realizes that few will accept his apology.
TIMOTHY APPLEBY AND JILL MAHONEY
Globe and Mail Update
Published Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 10:27AM EDT
Last updated Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010 11:04AM EDT
===================================================
Colonel Russell Williams told a courtroom he deeply regrets his “despicable crimes” but realizes that few will accept his apology.
The convicted sex killer was given the opportunity to speak before he was sentenced by Mr. Justice Robert Scott in Belleville, Ont., on Thursday.
“I stand before you indescribably ashamed. … I know that the crimes I have committed have damaged many people,” Col. Williams said, speaking slowly.
“I have committed despicable crimes … betraying my family, my friends and colleagues and the Canadian Forces. … I shall spend the rest of my life regretting that I have ended two vibrant, innocent and cherished lives.”
Judge Scott sentenced Col. Williams to two concurrent life sentences for the first-degree murders of Jessica Lloyd and Corporal Marie-France Comeau. In addition, he received 10-year terms on the two sex attacks and one year apiece for the 82 break-ins, all to be served concurrently. He is to be sent to Kingston Penitentiary to begin serving his term.
Col. Williams's two life sentences mean he must serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars before he has any chance of parole, as required by law. He stood straight in the prisoner's box as the sentences were read out.
Before delivering the sentence, Judge Scott told Col. Williams that his brutal, senseless crimes mean he will be forever notorious.
“He may best be described as Canada's bright shining lie. … His crimes have adversely affected this country and this community,” he said.
The judge said there are few mitigating circumstances except for Col. Williams's guilty pleas, which spared the families the grief of a trial. He said he believes the colonel's apology to be sincere but that he remains "an emotionless serial killer."
The former base commander and rising military star was formally convicted earlier this week of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of sexual assault and forcible confinement and 82 fetish burglaries in which he stole women’s underwear and other intimate items.
Crown attorney Lee Burgess spoke Thursday of the enormous trauma inflicted on Belleville and the surrounding area by “this despicable man,” calling him “one of the worst offenders in Canadian history.”
“We are a community transformed by his crimes,” Mr. Burgess says. “What makes this more despicable is that this was a man considered above reproach.
“He betrayed this community and he betrayed the military. No doubt he laughed at us as he [pursued his double life].”
In addition to the sentence, Mr. Burgess requested that Col. Williams be given a lifetime weapons ban, be listed on the sex offender registry and provide a DNA sample. He also asked that the colonel to pay compensation to his victims and for his SUV to be crushed. The judge granted the prosecutor's requests.
Mr. Burgess said he would not request that Col. Williams be designated a dangerous offender, saying the required hearing would prolong the process and make no difference to the outcome – life in jail with scant chance of parole.
Michael Edelson, Col. Williams’s defence lawyer, also addressed the court, calling his client 's crimes “abhorrent and unthinkable.” He said Col. Williams has accepted his guilt and responsibility.
“He cannot stand before this court and expect forgiveness. … It is unlikely anybody affected will ever fully recover. … He has also ruined his own life and [damaged] those close to him.”
Mr. Edelson said pleading guilty to first-degree murder is rare, noting Col. Williams’s plea expedited the outcome. He also noted that his client also fully co-operated with police.
On Wednesday, the court heard portions of the colonel’s videotaped interview with police, which lasted more than 10 hours and took place on Feb. 7, 2010, several days after Ms. Lloyd disappeared. He confessed to his crimes and later led police to the location of the 27-year-old’s body.
Ms. Lloyd’s family and friends also delivered emotional victim impact statements. Her mother, Roxanne Lloyd, said she feels like her “heart has been ripped out of my chest.”
The family of Col. Williams’s other murder victim, Cpl. Comeau, did not deliver victim-impact statements. However, their loss was addressed by Mr. Burgess on Thursday, who called it “a monstrous betrayal”.
“Can there be any greater contrast of courage and cowardice?” he said. “Can there be any greater contrast between evil and good?”
Also on Thursday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the Canadian Forces will do what it can to strip Col. Williams’s benefits.
“I know Defence Minister (Peter) MacKay has made clear the Forces will undertake all necessary actions to ensure that all sanctions possible and all benefits possible that can be withdrawn will be withdrawn from the former commander,” he said after a military funding announcement in St. John's. (the globe and mail)
=================================================
No comments:
Post a Comment