I find it that ‘Only In Canada’ will you find a parole board so tainted, so confused and so unaccountable that I cannot find the words to describe my feelings.
Disclosure that the sex offender and rapist, Graham James was released from prison three years ago by the parole board stunned the public {James was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison in 1997 after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting Kennedy and another unnamed player about 350 times over 10 years.}.Meanwhile, Robert Latimer literally rots in jail. (Over 10 years.)
News of Latimer’s last parole hearing was once again met with rejection after the parole board deemed that Mr. Latimer showed no remorse for his actions, the killing of his severely disabled child. His daughter faced a future of operations and pain over and above her already trying life condition.
How dare our justice system allow this to continue? How can a parole board ‘read inside a head’ and know who is remorseful and who is not? How can they read into the mind of father Robert Latimer in his decision to end his daughter’s life peacefully, without pain? I have watched people who are terminally ill suffer and it is hard, hard, hard to watch. But imagine watching this daily suffering of a child with no hope of a better life. It has to be beyond what a human brain can absorb and accept, never mind a parent.
Mr. Latimer should have been freed years and years ago but it seems that the ego of the parole board trumps logic, especially when we see how quietly they let Graham James free. Or did they read his mind and know, without a doubt, that James was remorseful and would not reoffend while Latimer remains a threat to others?
Let Robert Latimer free – now.
L. G. Anderson
Spruce Grove, AB
