Presentation Transcript

1. Paul Bernardo

   and Karla Homolka
2. Introduction Paul Bernardo was a serial killer and rapist He raped and murdered three main young girls, that we know about Bernardo and wife Karla Homolka video taped themselves sexually assaulting these girls kept the girls in their home as sex slaves for many days, after finished with them, they both killed and disposed of the girls bodies immediately There was a major difference between the charges against Bernardo and Homolka because Homolka decided to testified against Bernardo in order to obtain a plea bargain. This was decided before the video tapes were released
3. Paul Bernardo Born August 27, 1964 in Scarborough Ontario Raised in a very dysfunctional home His father was charged with child molestation Later in his life, Paul’s father began abusing his younger sister , sexually and physically His mother had clinical depression At the age of 16,Paul found out from his mother that he was the product of an affair with a former lover
4. Karla Homolka Born May 4th, 1970 in Port Credit, Ontario Had 3 sisters and was the oldest. Her youngest sister Tammy was a victim of the assaults Had a strong love for animals and began working at a veterinary clinic She seemed like a good child growing up, normal home life After meeting Paul, she was said to have deep psychotic thoughts
5. Crimes Christmas Eve, 1990, Paul and Karla drugged and raped her 15 year old sister Tammy (This was Karlas Christmas gift to Paul) As they are videotaping Tammy unconscious , while sexually assaulting her, she chokes on her own vomit and dies. June 15th, 1991, Bernardo kidnaps 14 year old Leslie Mahaffey from the yard of her Burlington home and takes her home as a sex slave According to Karla, he strangles Leslie to death and cuts up her body, putting the pieces into cement blocks Paul did all this while Karla was “blow drying” her hair
6. Crimes Continued 14 days later, Leslies body parts are discovered in Lake Gibson, just south of St. Catherines. THE EXACT SAME DAY PAUL AND KARLA GOT MARRIED April 16th 1992, Bernardo AND Karla kidnap 15 year old Kristen French and take her home as a sex slave 3 days later, Bernardo strangles Kristen to death and disposes of her naked body in the woods, just minutes from where Mahaffy is burried in Burlington
7. Facts and Prosecution Arguments On May 18th 1993, Bernardo is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven other serious crimes in connection with the murders Homolka is charged with two counts of manslaughter She is sentenced to 12 years in prison due to her plea bargain she will then testify in court against Paul Bernardo pleas not guilty to all charges After Ken Murray, Bernardos lawyer, receives a call from Bernardo telling him that there are video tapes in the bathroom ceiling at his house, he resigns as his lawyer.
8. The tapes show Bernardo AND Homolka raping Tammy, Leslie andKristen The strength of the conviction was heavily dependant on Karla’s testimony against Paul These tapes are used as evidence to support the charges against Bernardo in court This evidence was the key piece to prove how Bernardo was guilty
9. Defense presented Bernardo pleaded not guilty to all murder charges, and accepted the rape charges because of the evidence He claims that all the girls deaths were “accidental” Later he states that Karla was the one to murder them… he only raped them His statement in court is as follows: “that he left the house to get takeout food and to rent a movie, every time he came back home the girls would be dead with Karla standing over top of them” There is absolutely no evidence to prove any of his statements that he said in court Karla testifies and says she has nothing to do with any of it… Bernardos defense was weak and had no evidence to support him The jury found him guilty of all 9 charges
10. Evidence summary The police found detailed written descriptions of all the Scarborough rapes, plus a library of books and videos on sexual deviation, pornography and serial killers in the home of Paul and Karla This is significant because it is physical evidence that Bernardo did rape a large number of girls, he had admitted to it in his letters and journals The 6 videotapes found in the bathroom ceiling of Pauls home showed the sexual assault of the 3 teenagers and has both Paul and Karla starring in them
11. Significant to the case because it provides physical evidence of Bernardo and Homolka with the girls sexually assaulting them After Karla was checked into a psychiatric hospital for an assessment, she wrote a letter to her parents saying that it was her and Paul who were the ones to kill her sister Tammy.
12. Jury decision and sentence On September 1st 1995, Paul Bernardo was convicted on a number of offences including two first-degree murders of Leslie and Kristen and two aggravated sexual assaults He was sentenced to life in prison Since his conviction, he has been held in solitary confinement at Kingston Penitentiary in Kingston Ontario He spends 23 hours a day in a cell In return for a plea bargain (12 years in prison for manslaughter) Karla testified against Bernardo in his murder trial Karla was released from prison on July 4th 2005
13. Theories The differential Association theory: is a theory proposing that through interaction with others, individuals learn the values, attitudes, techniques, and motives for criminal behavior Learning criminal behaviour occurs within primary groups like family, friends and peers. The first interaction is family, so that is who an individual is most influenced by For Bernardo’s case, his behaviour is influenced by his father being a child molester, and his mother being unfaithful
14. Theories Socialization theory: suggests that the key influences leading to criminal behavior are found in your upbringing, peer groups, and role models Bernardo was exposed to a world of sexual abuse at such a young age that it influenced him Because of his father, Bernardo saw the world of child molestation and every trial his father went through Subconsciously aspire to be like him
15. Thank You