Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka: Canadian Rapists/Murderers

1970 Words4 Pages

Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka: Canadian Rapists/Murderers

Paul Bernardo was a well liked child by all the parents in the neighbourhood, he was pleasant and friendly. Although, when he was a sixteen, he got into an argument with his mother and she told him about how he was a illegitimate child and showed him the picture of his real father for whom she had an affair with. Paul was devastated and after the incident he did not get along with his mother. He started to hang around a tough crowd of people, had a terrible temper and enjoyed humiliating women publicly. This later led to his abusiveness towards women.

When Paul graduated from college he became a junior accountant at Prince Waterhouse. In October of 1987 he met the women of his dreams Karla Homolka. Karla was an average student and fairly popular growing up. She had many friends, and was raised in a loving home. Before getting involved with Paul, Karla had only been involved in one other serious relationship. While working in a Pet Care Centre, she was invited to a convention in Toronto where she met Paul and they became involved almost instantly. After the relationship began to evolve, Karla’s family and friends started to notice a change in Karla; her world started to revolve around Paul as she changed her style, and tastes to satisfy him.

Karla was totally in love with Paul and would do anything to make him happy. Paul and Karla engaged in very forceful sexual intercourse as this would keep Paul satisfied. He once asked Karla what she would think if he was a rapist and she said that she would think that it was cool… Paul was impressed and he started to rape women. He developed a pattern of grabbing women when they were getting off of the bus, r...

... middle of paper ...

...ey tapped into Ken and Paul’s conversations. Once the pressure got too much Ken turned over to the prosecutors and he withdrew from the case, John Rosen took his place. Paul’s case started in May of 1995, he faced two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement, two counts of kidnapping and one count of performing an indignity on the human body. On September 1, 1995 Paul was convicted on all the charges against him regarding Leslie Mahaffy and Kristen French.. He also faces a trial in the death of Tammy Homolka and the serial rapes.

The couple are still blaming each other for the murders. Paul Bernardo’s appeal is set for 2000. Under Canadian law, he can apply for parole after 25 years but it is not likely that he would be successful in any parole bid. Karla is eligible for parole in 2001.

Open Document