Convicted murderer living in Regina halfway house granted extended freedoms

A convicted murderer and pedophile living in a Regina halfway house has been granted more freedom.

The Parole Board of Canada has given Harold Smeltzer the right to be outside overnight on weekends.

Smeltzer abducted, sexually assaulted and murdered five-year-old Kimberley Thompson in Calgary in 1980. He drowned her and disposed her body in a garbage bag.

Smeltzer was granted day parole in 2008 after serving 27 years of a life sentence.

Kimberley’s sister Tina Thompson told the Roy Green Show on Sunday that she was 10 years old when her sister was killed and she used food to cope.

“I gained a lot of weight because in my 10-year-old brain, I though it made me safer because people don’t like heavy people,” Thompson said. “I lived most of my adult life as morbidly obese until I recently got quite thick and I’ve dropped a tonne of weight.”

She added her mother is still struggling with Kimberley’s murder.

“She’s still lost. When it comes to Kimmy, it’s something that never goes away,” Thompson said. “He stole Kimmy from us.”

The parole board still considers Smeltzer to be a moderate to high risk to reoffend.

“It horrifies me that people of Regina have to worry every day about whether or not he will strike again and it’s well-documented that pedophiles are not curable and he’s a pedophile,” Thompson said.

She added victims’ families don’t have a voice when it comes to whether convicted criminals are released, acknowledging the system focuses on rehabilitating people over protecting the community.

“He has a right to appeal every parole board decision that’s made; the victims’ families do not,” Thompson said. “I’ve never been able to write a victim impact statement because I can’t put into words how deeply what he did affected me.”

Thompson said members of her family felt like they were in the way when the matter was discussed at a parole board hearing.

“They read their statement, but apparently (board members) heard what he had to say and the decision was made,” she added. “I don’t believe that anybody felt like they were really heard.”

Thompson herself did not attend because she said she can’t be in the same room with Smeltzer.

“I won’t even go to Regina. I have a sister that lives in Imperial,” she said, referring to a community about 140 kilometres northwest of Regina.

“My son has been hyper-protected. I wouldn’t allow him on any media whatsoever for fear that somebody in (Smeltzer’s) family might see it and show it to (Smeltzer).”

Thompson said victims need to have more rights, adding she doesn’t believe prisoners should have any rights after they committed a crime.

“They aren’t capable of functioning in a society like a normal human being. Why do you let them out?” she questioned.

— With files from The Canadian Press