(Fredericton) A court has reduced the unprecedented sentence of a New Brunswick man who killed three Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers in 2014.
Justin Bourque had been sentenced to three life sentences for first degree murder, and he had to wait 75 years before he could apply for parole.
PHOTO CAROL TAYLOR, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Justin Bourque in 2014.
Last year, however, the Supreme Court of Canada rendered an important judgment concerning the murderer of the Quebec mosque, Alexandre Bissonnette. The nation’s highest court struck down a law that allowed judges to extend parole ineligibility periods beyond 25 years for those convicted of multiple murders.
Thursday’s decision from the New Brunswick Court of Appeal means Bourque, who was 24 at the time of the murders, will be able to apply for parole after serving 25 years.
“The Supreme Court’s decision in the Bissonnette case makes the sentence imposed on Mr. Bourque a sentence that is not authorized by law and which is not constitutional”, notes the court in its decision.
“We are required to modify the sentences so that the period of ineligibility for parole corresponds to periods of 25 years to be served concurrently”.
The court recalls, however, that Bourque’s crimes are “horrible” and have “damaged our social fabric”, in addition to claiming three victims.
“As explained in Bissonnette, as the law now stands, Mr. Bourque will be eligible for parole, but eligibility does not mean that he has a right to parole,” she points out.