WARNING: This story incorporates particulars of sexual assault and will have an effect on those that have skilled sexual violence or know somebody affected by it.
The person discovered responsible of the 1981 sexual assault and homicide of a Hamilton nursing assistant has instantly deserted his bid for early parole, simply two days into what was anticipated to be a three-week listening to.
“This was a uncommon and sudden flip of occasions,” Crown lawyer Cheryl Gzik instructed CBC Hamilton in an electronic mail on Wednesday.
Robert Badgerow, who had 4 trials earlier than his 2016 conviction in 23-year-old Diane Werendowicz’s demise, obtained the obligatory sentence of life in jail with no likelihood of parole for 25 years. Usually, he would not have been allowed to use till 2032.
The 66-year-old requested for early parole by requesting a judicial assessment of his sentence underneath the Felony Code’s Faint Hope Clause.
A 12-person jury began hearing his application in Ontario’s Superior Courtroom of Justice in Hamilton on Monday.
Gzik, who prosecuted Badgerow in 2016 in Kitchener, stated Wednesday the convicted assassin had deserted his software to try early parole and the jury was discharged.
“This will affect his means to go for early parole sooner or later, and Robert Badgerow understands that,” she stated, including no formal purpose for abandoning the courtroom effort had been given.
Badgerow’s defence group declined to remark to CBC Hamilton.
Badgerow was the primary particular person in Canadian authorized historical past to be tried for the same murder four times.
His authorized proceedings embrace a number of appeals and mistrials.
The jury in his early parole try this week would have determined if Badgerow can be allowed to use for early launch after the Crown and defence made their instances about his character, conduct in jail, nature of the crime and lasting affect on Werendowicz’s household.
Badgerow was anticipated to testify.
The Faint Hope Clause was repealed in 2011, however stays an choice for individuals serving sentences for homicide dedicated earlier than Dec. 2 of that 12 months.
Sufferer’s nephew describes trauma of extended courtroom processes
When requested if she had heard from Werendowicz’s household concerning the final result, Gzik pointed to a 2023 sufferer affect assertion by her nephew.
“Robert Badgerow was privileged to reside a life and revel in all that it needed to supply with out penalties till 18 years later from the time he murdered my aunt,” it learn.
Badgerow’s try to regain his freedom precipitated Werendowicz’s nephew to expertise “grief, psychological anguish, anxiousness and frustration,” he wrote, “which in flip has precipitated me to relive this homicide time and again, giving me over a 40-year sentence in my very own life whereas Robert Badgerow has solely served 15 years.”
In courtroom on Monday, Gzik instructed jurors that Badgerow is a “wolf in sheep’s clothes” who shouldn’t be given an opportunity for an early launch.
“Robert Badgerow is deceitful, hasn’t proven any regret or perception into his behaviour and denies the offence,” Gzik stated.
Defence lawyer Aditi Iyer instructed the jury that Badgerow maintains his innocence.
Badgerow sexually assaulted and killed Werendowicz in a ravine after encountering her strolling residence from a Stoney Creek bar, Gzik stated Monday.
Kids discovered her physique the subsequent day, however it was not till 1998 that investigators linked Badgerow to the scene by extracting DNA collected from semen on Werendowicz’s physique and denims, and matching it to Badgerow’s.
He claimed he and Werendowicz had consensual intercourse in his automotive and another person killed her later.
For anybody who has been sexually assaulted, there’s assist out there by way of disaster strains and native assist providers by way of the Ending Violence Affiliation of Canada database.
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