The coroner’s report on the assassination of Marylène Lévesque is puzzlingly simple. The coroner has two recommendations: review the correctional plan of his murderer, Eustachio Gallese, to identify the “elements generating [sa] disempowerment ”and impose the wearing of electronic wristbands with geolocation for offenders convicted of spousal homicide.
Wearing the electronic bracelet for offenders with a history of domestic violence is an interesting avenue, but it would not solve all the problems. Feminicides are not just the business of people who have been put to justice. Men often “without history” commit the irreparable.
The coroner’s inquest into the murder of Marylène Lévesque, 22, nevertheless offered the opportunity to reflect on the responsibility of the prison system in the prevention of feminicides. The coroner, Me Stéphanie Gamache, believes that the murder of the young woman could have been avoided if Gallese, a repeat offender on parole, had worn an electronic bracelet.
The argument falls flat. The liberation officer already knew that Gallese frequented massage parlors. His contacts had been authorized as part of his reintegration plan, despite the seriousness of his history. In 2006, Gallese was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the unpremeditated murder of his ex-wife. Allowing such a man to relieve his sexual urges on erotic masseuses, in the name of a twisted conception of rehabilitation, shocks the conscience.
This permission had been revoked by the National Parole Board (NPB), but it was too little too late, since Gallese had had time to form a twisted relationship with Mr.me Lévesque, imagining that he could form a couple with her. It was when he realized the impossibility of this union that he brutally killed Marylène Lévesque with icy premeditation. He pleaded guilty to a charge of premeditated murder at his trial.
The Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) failed miserably in their efforts to rehabilitate him. Gallese’s NPB and case management team underestimated his dangerousness upon release. Marylène Lévesque was never told of her history of domestic violence. Even after his assassination, the Union of Security and Justice Employees and the Association of Social Rehabilitation Services of Quebec defended the reintegration plan that allowed Gallese to attend massage parlors. The decision had not been taken on a corner of the table; it was clinically justified, they said.
Coroner Gamache did not have the mandate to investigate the conduct of the CCS and the NPB. An internal, redacted report of appeasement completed the work of introspection on the part of these two federal institutions. In his defense, Mr.e Gamache notes that the correctional intervention plan prepared for Gallese was “a resounding failure”. She could have added that an electronic bracelet will never replace the judgment of the peace officers, charged with finding the delicate point of balance between the rehabilitation of the offender and the safety of the public.
Marylène Lévesque paid with her life for their errors of judgment. No survey has had the courage to say so.