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Court lifts all restrictions on Karla Homolka

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CTV.ca News Staff

Date: Thu. Dec. 1 2005 6:46 AM ET

A Quebec judge has struck down all 14 court-imposed conditions on convicted killer Karla Homolka after her release from prison.

The judgment by Quebec Superior Court Justice James Brunton means Homolka does not have to report to police on a regular basis, can go where she wants and see whomever she pleases.

This also means she is not restricted from consorting with criminals nor contacting the families of her victims if she so wishes.

"The possibility that Ms. Teale might reoffend one day cannot be completely eliminated," Brunton wrote.

"However, her development over the last 12 years demonstrates, on a balance of probabilities, that this is unlikely to occur. She does not represent a real and imminent danger to commit a personal injury offence. The appeal should be granted."

Joanne Marceau, a spokeswoman for the Quebec Justice Department, told The Canadian Press that a number of options are being considered, including an appeal and an attempt to seek another set of restrictions.

Meanwhile, Ontario Attorney General Michael Bryant expressed his disappointment with the judge's decision and urged his Quebec counterpart to consider an appeal.

"It was one of the most extensive hearings of a recognizance order really in the history of Canada," he told CTV Toronto's Paul Bliss.

"We were confident that it would be upheld. It has not been, and so we're obviously disappointed and urging the Quebec authorities to appeal."

In the meantime, Bryant said that if Homolka is planning on coming to Ontario, he will seek a recognizance order in Ontario to restrict her activities.

He said Ontario Provincial Police and Niagara police have also been warned to be on alert in the event that Homolka enters Ontario, "at which point we would take action."

The families of Homolka's victims also expressed their own disappointment with the judgment.

"We believe that there are very serious errors in law in the judgment, and the families are urging the attorney general of Quebec to appeal this decision to the appeal courts in Quebec," Tim Danson, the families' lawyer said at a news conference on Wednesday afternoon.

"The families are committed to the view that the public is at risk now that Karla Homolka is free within the community, without conditions," he said.

A month before she finished her 12 year sentence for manslaughter in July, the court imposed several release conditions on Homolka after Quebec Superior Court Justice Jean Beaulieu ruled that she was a risk to the community.

Homolka appealed those restrictions, which required her to report regularly to police and keep them informed as to where she is living and working.

She was also forbidden from associating or working in a position of authority with anyone younger than 16, and from consorting with those who possess violent criminal records.

Earlier, several media reported that only eight of 14 conditions were voided in Brunton's written decision. But Brunton later confirmed he had lifted all the restrictions against Homolka.

In April, before Homolka's release, Bryant urged Quebec's provincial court to impose "the strictest conditions possible" on Homolka on the basis that she could commit serious personal injury offences in the future.

Earlier this month, the Quebec Justice Department ruled that Homolka won't face additional charges for allegedly breaching her release conditions.

The department said Crown prosecutors found no evidence that Homolka violated the restrictions on her freedom.

Homolka's former employer, Richer Lapointe, had accused the freed sex killer of consorting with violent criminals this past summer, thus breaking the terms of her release conditions under Section 810.2.

Homolka served 12 years in prison for manslaughter in the sex killings of Ontario schoolgirls Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy in the 1990s. She is believed to be living in the Montreal area under her new name, Karla Leanne Teale.

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