Parole board members’ inexperience possible factor in woman’s death: ex-members

MONTREAL — Two former Parole Board of Canada members say a change that resulted in the hiring of inexperienced members may have been a factor in the murder of a 22-year-old woman allegedly killed by a man previously convicted of murder and out on parole.

Dave Blackburn and Jean-Claude Boyer both say changes brought in by the federal government in 2017 meant that the vast majority of the existing board members were replaced with people without prior experience.

Blackburn and Boyer say that inexperience may have played into the 2019 decision to renew the day parole of 51-year-old Eustachio Gallese, who is accused of killing Marylene Levesque in Quebec City last week.

In 2006, Gallese was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 15 years, after he killed his 32-year-old partner by beating her with a hammer before repeatedly stabbing her.

Boyer says an experienced board member would have revoked Gallese’s parole upon learning that a man with a history of violence against women had been given permission by his case worker to frequent sex workers.

Blackburn, agrees, noting the board expressed concern with the strategy but failed to act to protect women like Levesque who work in the sex trade, essentially relegating them to second-class citizens.

The Commissioner of Corrections Services and the chair of the Parole Board of Canada have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Gallese’s release.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 29, 2020.

The Canadian Press