'I did terrible things'
2005-07-05 11:32
Montreal - Canada's most notorious female inmate was secretly spirited from prison and taken to a television studio after serving 12 years for the rapes and murders of three teenage girls, including her younger sister.
Karla Homolka, 35, received the relatively light sentence in return for her testimony against her ex-husband Paul Bernardo. Homolka told the court and psychiatrists she was a battered wife who took part in the rapes and murders to protect herself and her family.
Months after prosecutors made the deal, however, Bernardo's attorneys handed over homemade videotapes by the couple that indicated Homolka was a willing participant.
"I don't want to be hunted down," Homolka told RDI, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's French-language news network, after her release. "I don't want people to think I am dangerous and I'm going to do something to their children."
"I'm unable to forgive myself. I think of what I've done and then often I think I don't deserve to be happy because of this," said Homolka, who appeared drawn and tired.
Regret
Homolka plans on living in Quebec and acknowledged those in the French-speaking province know less about the horrific details of her case.
Homolka has changed her name to Karla Teale. She left the prison in rural Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, about 30km northwest of Montreal, in a red van where she hid in the back with her lawyer.
As Homolka was being released, her other lawyers were in court seeking a ban against the media on covering her release and subsequent whereabouts.
Homolka became the symbol of evil in Canada in 1993 when she was convicted of manslaughter for her role in the kidnappings, rapes, sexual torture and murders of Ontario teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy. She was also convicted in the 1990 death of her 15-year-old sister, Tammy, who died choking on her own vomit on Christmas Eve after Homolka held a drug-soaked cloth over her mouth while both she and her husband raped her.
"What I did was terrible and I was in a situation where I was unable to see clearly, where I was unable to ask for help, where I was completely overwhelmed in my life and I regret it enormously because now I know I had the power to stop all that, but when I was living through it I thought I had no power," Homolka said.
Asked why she didn't have the power to stop it, Homolka said: "Well, I didn't initiate the crimes. I followed yes, I did what I did."
"I absolutely wanted to have a relationship. I did not have self-confidence," Homolka said.
She said she wouldn't offend again because she's an adult.
Tim Danson, the lawyer representing the French and Mahaffy families, told The Associated Press his clients were stunned that Homolka was free.
By the time the videotapes were revealed, Homolka's plea bargain deal had been sealed. Canadians were outraged that she would be released in 12 years.
- AP