Report on Quebec woman murdered by offender on day parole calls for better oversight
Posted Jan 21, 2021 11:33:43 AM.
Last Updated Jan 21, 2021 11:46:11 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — A report into the murder of a Quebec City woman last year at the hands of a federal offender out on day parole is recommending better oversight and changes to how cases are managed in the province.
Marylene Levesque, 22, was found dead Jan. 22 in a Quebec City hotel room, stabbed numerous times by Eustachio Gallese.
Gallese had met Levesque after getting permission from a parole officer the previous spring to visit “erotic massage establishments” — a controversial condition that was revoked by the Parole Board of Canada in September 2019.
The report found the Correctional Service of Canada missed a number of warning signs in Gallese’s case.
Public Security Minister Bill Blair, who joined the heads of the Correctional Service of Canada and the Parole Board to discuss the report today, says Levesque’s death was a tragedy that should never have happened.
In a response today, the Correctional Service of Canada says that it will be resuming all aspects of community supervision of federal offenders in Quebec to create a single system in the country.
Gallese had been serving a sentence for second-degree murder in the killing of his ex-spouse in 2004.
Last February, Gallese pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder in Levesque’s death and was sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole for 25 years.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 21, 2021.
The Canadian Press
