Latest news with #PennyBoudreau
CTV News
6 hours ago
- CTV News
Nova Scotia woman who killed daughter granted day passes from prison, but not parole
Penny Boudreau is escorted from provincial court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Karissa Boudreau, in Bridgewater, N.S., on Friday, Jan. 30, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan TRURO — A Nova Scotia woman who murdered her 12-year-old daughter in 2008 has been granted an unescorted pass from prison for 60 days. But the Parole Board of Canada denied Penny Boudreau's request Wednesday for day parole, saying she wasn't ready to live in a community for a more prolonged period with fewer restrictions. In January 2009, Boudreau pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after admitting she had used a length of twine to strangle Karissa Boudreau on the night of Jan. 27, 2008. Court heard that the woman from Bridgewater, N.S., now in her 50s, wanted the girl out of the way because she was interfering with Boudreau's relationship with a boyfriend. Boudreau was sentenced to 20 years in prison. But under federal law, she was allowed to apply for day parole or a so-called unescorted temporary absence (UTA) with three years left in her sentence. Day parole can be granted for up to six months and is less restrictive than a UTA. In both cases, offenders must return at night to a supervised setting like a halfway house, but there is closer supervision and more restrictions for those on a UTA. Those on day parole, for example, can apply to leave unescorted for a weekend, but those on a UTA can't do that. As the hearing in Truro, N.S., began Wednesday, Karissa's father, Paul Boudreau, read from a statement saying his daughter's death had left a huge void in his life. 'Am I a failure as a father? Should I have seen this coming?' he said. 'This turmoil has lowered my self-worth to a very low point .... Life will never be the same for many of us.' The hearing, led by a two-member panel from the parole board, heard Boudreau had completed correctional programs and had received treatment from a mental health team while working as an assistant to the chaplain at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro. 'You've made good use of the time,' a panel member said. 'You've led a productive lifestyle.' As well, they were told Boudreau had been granted escorted day passes for the past seven years and participated in psychological risk assessments that determined she was at a very low risk to re-offend. But the panel also heard she is considered a high risk for entering into unhealthy, intimate relationships. Throughout the hearing, Boudreau spoke barely above a whisper. At times, she struggled to answer questions about how she would cope in certain situations. And she lost her composure several times, dabbing her eyes with a tissue as she sobbed. When asked to reflect on the impact her actions have had on the broader community, she struggled to respond. 'A great deal of consideration went into the impact on the community,' she said, drawing a deep breath. 'I have talked about it with several people .... And I feel like people are going to be hurting .... I don't know if there's anything I could do to mitigate causing more hurt or anger.' She also mentioned how her unescorted day passes allowed for a gradual reintegration into society. 'It would have been overwhelming to do this too much,' she said. 'It's allowed me to be gradually hopeful that I can do this.' But when she was asked to rate her overall progress in prison on a scale from 1 to 10, she said she rated herself at 6 or a 7. 'That means there's still work to be done,' a board member told the hearing as it drew to a close. 'The board thinks you're very conscious of the work that needs to be done on relationships, managing emotions and dealing with obstacles that can be highly stressful.' The board member said Boudreau's limited criminal history was offset by the nature and severity of her crime. 'The impact of your crime cannot be overstated,' he said. 'This impact remains very much alive ... And the board remains very mindful of the protection of society.' The board members decided they would review Boudreau's case in six months. They also said her UTA was conditional on her continuing with mental health treatment, avoiding contact with the victim's family and reporting any new relationships with men, and confirming whether they have parental responsibilities for anyone under 16. When asked if she had any additional information to share, Boudreau sobbed again as she acknowledged that many people in Nova Scotia are still hurting because of her actions. 'I realize that I can't undo it. I just want it known that I don't take this lightly at all.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025. The Canadian Press
Global News
9 hours ago
- Global News
Nova Scotia woman who killed daughter granted day passes from prison, but not parole
A Nova Scotia woman who murdered her 12-year-old daughter in 2008 has been granted unescorted day passes from prison for 60 days. But the Parole Board of Canada has denied Penny Boudreau's request for day parole, saying she wasn't ready to live in a community even though she would be required to return to a supervised setting at night. Boudreau was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the Jan. 27, 2008, death of Karissa Boudreau, after pleading guilty to second-degree murder for strangling her only child. Earlier today, the parole board decided Boudreau's unescorted single-day passes from prison will be supervised in a way that ensures the safety of the community she chooses, while contributing to her reintegration into society. 7:58 Former RCMP Sergeant Writes Book On One of Nova Scotia's Most Infamous Murders During a hearing at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, N.S., the board heard Boudreau had completed correctional programs and had worked with a mental health team while working as an assistant to the prison's chaplain. Story continues below advertisement But the panel also heard Boudreau admit that, on a scale from 1 to 10, she considered herself a 6 or a 7 when it came to assessing the progress she had made in prison. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'That means there's still work to be done,' a board member told the hearing 'The board thinks you're very conscious of the work that needs to be done on relationships, managing emotions and dealing with obstacles that can be highly stressful. This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 18, 2025.
National Post
9 hours ago
- National Post
N.S. mother who strangled daughter to death and dumped body gets 60-day unescorted leave
A Nova Scotia woman serving a life sentence for strangling her own daughter to death has been granted a 60-day unescorted temporary absence from prison, but was denied day parole. Article content Penny Patricia Boudreau will be living at a halfway house in an undisclosed location for the duration of the two-month release. Article content Article content 'Your criminal history is limited, however that has very little mitigating impact in terms of the overall history because of the nature, the severity and the circumstances of your crime,' Francois Levert, a member of the parole board, said Wednesday. Article content Boudreau murdered her 12-year-old daughter Karissa Boudreau on Jan. 27, 2008, later claiming it was to save her relationship with her then boyfriend, Vernon Macumber. The Crown later said he had no role in the crime. Article content Article content 'Holding a position of trust, you strangled the young victim and disposed of the body in the snow (beside the LaHave River) with hopes it would not be discovered,' according to a written decision earlier this year from the parole board regarding Boudreau. Article content 'Moreover, you concocted a story that she might have been abducted and made public pleas for her return. An exhaustive police investigation involving undercover agents led to your arrest. It was your position that your decisions were taken to save your intimate relationship with your partner.' Article content The 'paramount consideration' guiding Wednesday's decision is the protection of society, Levert said. Article content Article content Boudreau, now 51, has completed numerous escorted temporary absences from prison since they were first approved for her in 2018. Article content 'There's quite a bit of difference between a six-hour or seven-hour outing and a 60-day period,' Levert said. Article content 'The board believes that, at the current time, it is difficult to foresee … within two months … you'll be able to transition immediately' to day parole, he said. Article content The parole board can't 'assume things will go well,' Levert said. Article content While the board authorized the 60-day unescorted temporary absence for Boudreau, it wants to see how she does with that before giving her six months of day parole. On day parole, Boudreau would sleep at a halfway house, but she would be able to spend time in the community for work, education or treatment. Article content Article content During her 60-day release, Boudreau is to have no contact with several members of her victim's family that were identified only by initials at Wednesday's hearing. She must immediately report all relationships with men and disclose whether they have parental responsibility for children under 16. Boudreau must also follow a mental health treatment program.
Vancouver Sun
2 days ago
- Vancouver Sun
Penny Boudreau, who strangled her 12-year-old daughter, tries for 'early' release
HALIFAX, N.S. — A parole board hearing scheduled for June 18, will give a Nova Scotia convicted killer a chance to persuade members and the public that she is not the same person who admitted to packing twine in the trunk of her car in 2008 before murdering her 12-year-old daughter. Now 51, Penny Boudreau is serving a life sentence at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro, Nova Scotia, where she works as a cleaner and orders groceries for her unit. Seventeen years ago, Judge Margaret Stewart sentenced Boudreau to 20 years without eligibility for full parole for confessing to killing her only child, Karissa. That would have meant a release date of June 13, 2028. However, under the Corrections and Conditional Release Act, she is now eligible to apply for unescorted passes, including day parole, three years prior to completing that sentence. Because this is Boudreau's first application for unescorted time away from jail, it automatically prompts a review by way of a hearing. Under the Act, she is now eligible for day parole for rehabilitative purposes that allows an offender to participate in community-based activities in preparation for full parole or statutory release. Offenders must return nightly to a halfway house unless otherwise authorized by the Parole Board of Canada. In addition to standard conditions of day parole, the Parole Board may also impose special conditions that an offender must abide by during release. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Boudreau's decision to apply for unescorted release — viewed by the public as 'early' release — has provoked a backlash in a case that has gripped Atlantic Canada for almost two decades. Etched in many people's memory is the mother's televised pleas for the public's help finding her daughter as she concocted a story to make people believe her child was alive and may have been abducted from a grocery store parking lot. Emotions are already running high in Nova Scotia where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are still searching for two other local children, Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who have been missing since May 2, after their mother and stepfather reported the kids wandered off from home. The disappearance of those children without a trace stirred up memories of Boudreau who committed what many think of as an unthinkable rare crime: filicide. On Jan. 27, 2008, Penny Boudreau was a 33-year-old cashier living with her boyfriend who worked at the same grocery store in Bridgewater, a small town of less than 9,000 people on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Karissa had recently moved in with the couple in their small two-bedroom apartment after living with her father. But the new arrangement caused friction for all of them. Karissa's diaries revealed how she resented living with the boyfriend. That Sunday afternoon, the mother and daughter went for a drive to have a heart-to-heart chat about the house rules and conflict the pre-teen and her mom were having, said Penny at the time. A winter storm set in and shortly before 6 p.m., Penny Boudreau ducked into the grocery store to pick up a few things while Karissa stayed in the car. As she exited the store, she claimed Karissa had disappeared and, two hours later, called 911 to report her daughter missing. The grade six child could be out in a snowstorm in a hoodie, vest, jeans and pink Crocs on her feet. For 13 days, there was a frantic search involving helicopters, police dogs and worried people across southern Nova Scotia. People in Bridgewater raised money to help the family as they watched the young mother plead on TV for help finding Karissa. 'Karissa, we love you. We are all looking for you, just come home or call or something,' Boudreau urged. Police contacted Karissa's friends, including Courtney Sarty, to check their backyards to see if the child may be hiding. 'I thought she ran off,' Sarty recalled 17 years later. 'I was so afraid. I kept sending her messages on MSN back then urging her to let somebody know where you are and that you are OK.' Two weeks later, Karissa's frozen body was discovered on the LaHave riverbank less than five minutes from Boudreau's apartment. RCMP launched an undercover operation as they focused on Penny's boyfriend after receiving reports of yelling and fighting at their small apartment. In an elaborate plan that targeted Boudreau's boyfriend for months, investigators tried to determine whether the couple played a role in Karissa's death. By June 2008, they had cleared the boyfriend and set up a Mr. Big fake crime organization scenario to elicit a confession from Boudreau. Not realizing she was speaking to police, Boudreau re-enacted how she strangled her daughter on a deserted road. Initially, Boudreau was charged with first-degree murder but later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, giving up her right to a trial that spared family members who had already been through agony. During the sentencing, Judge Stewart told her: 'You can never call yourself 'mother' in conjunction with Karissa's name again, and the words 'Mommy don't' from a trusting and loving Karissa are there to haunt you the rest of your natural life.' At the June 18 hearing, parole board members will consider whether Boudreau is a risk to society. They will review her psychological risk assessments that have consistently found Boudreau was in a dysfunctional relationship at the time of the murder and feared being abandoned by her boyfriend. She's no longer in touch with him according to previous parole board decisions. Because of her model behaviour in jail for the past seven years, Boudreau has regularly been granted escorted temporary absences to leave jail for several hours under supervision to attend church services, Bible study meetings and, more recently, to visit a friend she met in the congregation. Personal development is part of her rehabilitation, according to the decisions. After a file review in March, two parole board members concluded Boudreau's risk to society is low and the board does not consider Boudreau as 'presenting an undue risk to society,' wrote the members in their March decision to let Boudreau attend church travelling in a Correctional Service Canada vehicle. However, they did comment on police opposition to any further 'liberal release.' 'It is their opinion that you were issued a life sentence with no parole before 20 years served which needs to be followed,' they wrote of the unnamed police agency. The Parole Board of Canada has received victim impact statements and a host of letters (a signed petition at one point) opposed to any type of release. For those opposed to Boudreau being granted further freedoms, there is still a 'deep sense of loss and grief, be it family members, friends or the community at large. The grief and opposition to your release continues to this day,' the parole board members wrote. Whether jail is intended to punish someone convicted of a crime or a place to protect society until the inmate is rehabilitated is the thorny issue that divides not only the people of Nova Scotia, but politicians and Canadians. I think she should serve what she was sentenced to During the recent federal election, the Conservative party vowed to re-emphasize the rights of victims and safety of communities over the rights of criminals. 'The residents of the South Shore, Halifax and communities across Canada deserve to feel safe in their own neighbourhoods,' read a press release issued by Rick Perkins, the former Conservative MP for South-Shore-St. Margarets, who lost his seat. 'Like many Nova Scotians, I am appalled to learn that Penny Boudreau…has been on day passes from prison and could soon be granted unescorted leave from prison,' he said in the statement released April 25. There will be submissions at the June 18 hearing from those impacted by Karissa's murder. Courtney Sarty, who has the date Karissa died tattooed on her right arm, Until We Meet Again, above a yellow rose for friendship and a pink one, Karissa's favourite colour, is unequivocal: 'I think she should serve what she was sentenced to. I read that her assessment to reoffend is really low and that she's not probable to commit the same crime,' said Sarty. But she's not convinced that the counselling Boudreau received during her prison stay is a guarantee she would not react again in a similar situation. 'Killing Karissa was unprovoked, so who is to say it wouldn't take the right situation for her to do something again.' She urged the parole board to be fair. 'If she is given parole, I don't think she should have access to children whatsoever,' said Sarty, now a 29-year-old mother studying to become a licensed practical nurse. Boudreau is estranged from her family since the murder but has befriended a pastor at a church she attends in an undisclosed community. The pastor has confirmed Boudreau will receive continued support as she works her way towards proving she can successfully integrate back into society. The Corrections Conditional Release Act allows for an inmate to apply for day parole and unescorted passes as part of assisting the rehabilitation of offenders and their reintegration into the community as law-abiding citizens through the provision of programs in penitentiaries and in the community. The Conservatives focused on toughening up the chance for early parole for criminals convicted of multiple murders. Leader Pierre Poilievre promised to use Section 33 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, known as the Notwithstanding Clause, to reintroduce the Protecting Canadians by Ending Sentence Discounts for Multiple Murders Act, which the Supreme Court of Canada struck down in 2022 because, in their opinion, it violates an offender's Charter rights. The Supreme Court's decision has impacted the sentences of some of Canada's most notorious killers like Alexandre Bissonnette, who was serving a life in prison with no chance of parole for 40 years for shooting and killing six people in a Quebec Mosque in 2017. After the Supreme Court's decision, Bissonnette will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years. The decision doesn't affect Boudreau, who was convicted of one murder (not multiple murders). She is required to provide her DNA and is prohibited from owning weapons for her lifetime. She has no previous offences that offer insight into her mindset at the time of the murder. She has referenced experiencing low self-esteem, a sense of inadequacy and fears of abandonment, according to her psychological risk assessments in her prison file. Her assessments described her overall risk for unescorted absences and/or day parole was 'generally low.' These ratings, it said, have withstood the test of many years of incarceration and would not be expected to change unless 'you were in an unhealthy relationship which is currently not a concern.' It also noted Boudreau has recently spoken of 'how you work through the many emotions that come with accepting the offence you committed, daily feelings of guilt and shame.' Boudreau toured a community residential facility — halfway house — last December and met with the director. The location remains confidential. In March, the Parole Board of Canada acknowledged recent threats made to Boudreau's personal safety increase the need for security and suggested any measures necessary will be taken when Boudreau appears before the hearing. Today, there is still a memorial for Karissa on the LaHave riverbank where her body was found. Sarty goes there when she is struggling to make sense of how her friend's mother, a woman she knew, could forsake her unconditional love for her daughter. 'I have my own son and my love is deep. He could curse me and put me down to the lowest, and I'm still going to look at him and say, 'I love you.' Sherri Aikenhead is a Nova Scotia author of Mommy Don't: From Mother to Murderer, The true story of Penny and Karissa Boudreau. Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here .
Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Edmonton Journal
Penny Boudreau, who strangled her 12-year-old daughter, tries for 'early' release
Article content Emotions are already running high in Nova Scotia where the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are still searching for two other local children, Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who have been missing since May 2, after their mother and stepfather reported the kids wandered off from home. The disappearance of those children without a trace stirred up memories of Boudreau who committed what many think of as an unthinkable rare crime: filicide. On Jan. 27, 2008, Penny Boudreau was a 33-year-old cashier living with her boyfriend who worked at the same grocery store in Bridgewater, a small town of less than 9,000 people on Nova Scotia's South Shore. Karissa had recently moved in with the couple in their small two-bedroom apartment after living with her father. But the new arrangement caused friction for all of them. Karissa's diaries revealed how she resented living with the boyfriend. That Sunday afternoon, the mother and daughter went for a drive to have a heart-to-heart chat about the house rules and conflict the pre-teen and her mom were having, said Penny at the time. A winter storm set in and shortly before 6 p.m., Penny Boudreau ducked into the grocery store to pick up a few things while Karissa stayed in the car. As she exited the store, she claimed Karissa had disappeared and, two hours later, called 911 to report her daughter missing. The grade six child could be out in a snowstorm in a hoodie, vest, jeans and pink Crocs on her feet.
