Close X
Friday, November 1, 2024
ADVT 
National

Man Gets Life For Killing Girl But Case Dismissed In Another B.C. Girl's Murder

The Canadian Press, 29 Jan, 2019 09:17 PM

    VANCOUVER — A judge called Garry Handlen a sexual predator and sentenced him to life in prison for killing a 12-year-old girl in 1978 but moments later dismissed a case involving allegations that the man murdered another British Columbia girl three years earlier.


    B.C. Supreme Court Justice Austin Cullen said Handlen preyed on the vulnerable and weak to commit barbaric crimes and has already been convicted for other sexual assaults.


    Handlen, 71, was found guilty by a jury earlier this month of the first-degree murder of Monica Jack, who disappeared while riding her bike in Merritt on May 6, 1978.


    He confessed to an undercover officer in November 2014 that he abducted Jack, sexually assaulted and strangled her before burning her clothes and parts of her body.


    "This particular crime is among the worst of its kind and you are among the worst of offenders," Cullen told Handlen on Monday. "Your actions were certain to bring an innocent child terror and pain before her life was so savagely ended."


    Handlen had also been charged with the first-degree murder of 11-year Kathryn-Mary Herbert in or near Matsqui in 1975, but he pleaded not guilty to that crime after being sentenced for Jack's murder.


    Crown counsel Mark Sheardown told court no evidence would be presented in Herbert's case.


    Outside court, Crown spokesman Dan McLaughlin said Handlen had confessed to Herbert's murder during the so-called Mr. Big operation in Minden, Ont., but the judge found that confession to be inadmissible.


    He said the Crown will review its option regarding that ruling before deciding whether to take any further steps.


    Just four months after Handlen murdered Jack, he was handed a 12-year sentence for sexually assaulting a another young woman.


    A conviction of first-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence of 25 years without parole, although Cullen noted Handlen is eligible to apply for parole in 15 years through the so-called faint hope clause because he killed Jack before that law was eliminated.


    Before he was sentenced, Jack's family gave tearful victim-impact statements, saying they had hoped the happy girl would be found but decades without knowing what happened to her took an emotional toll.


    Jack's remains were discovered 17 years later on a mountain near where Handlen said he'd driven after he grabbed her from a highway pullout.


    Glen Jack said he had already suffered the trauma of beatings in residential school before dealing with the loss of his sister, whose bike he found the day after she was last seen riding it.


    "For 40 years I felt responsible for not being able to protect Monica," he said through tears.


    Jack said police questioned him for days while he was serving time in jail for break and enters, adding he had become a convenient suspect.


    "I felt completely isolated and abandoned by my own family," he said.


    "Garry Handlen committed an act of unspeakable evil in the course of a few hours in May 1978."


    Jack's sisters, including Elizabeth Kraus, spoke about how her murder has affected them.


    Kraus said she was 11 when her "beautiful, sweet, kind and good" sister disappeared but that she felt satisfied justice had finally been done because Handlen has been handed a life sentence as her family is working to get on with their lives.


    Outside court, Madeline Lanaro said her daughter's disappearance caused a lot of pain for her entire family and the frustration and anger of not knowing what happened to her for decades caused tension among the whole community as people started to fear for their children.


    "I survive by helping people," she told court and later called on the public to support the families of those who are missing or murdered.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    'I Don't Want A Trial:' Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, Truck Driver In Humboldt Broncos Crash, Pleads Guilty To All Charges

    Sidhu was driving a transport truck loaded with peat moss last April when the rig and the Broncos team bus collided at a rural intersection. The team had been on its way to a Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League game.

    'I Don't Want A Trial:' Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, Truck Driver In Humboldt Broncos Crash, Pleads Guilty To All Charges

    B.C. Appeal Court Gives Ottawa More Time To Fix Solitary Confinement Law

    The B.C. Supreme Court ruling last January gave Ottawa a year to enact replacement legislation, and the Appeal Court has now extended the deadline to June 17

    B.C. Appeal Court Gives Ottawa More Time To Fix Solitary Confinement Law

    Trump Respects 'Rule Of Law' In Extradition Case, Trudeau'S Office Says

    Trump Respects 'Rule Of Law' In Extradition Case, Trudeau'S Office Says
    China has pressed Canada to get Meng freed from the extradition process, which Canadian politicians have replied they simply aren't allowed to do.

    Trump Respects 'Rule Of Law' In Extradition Case, Trudeau'S Office Says

    Electric-Car Sales Soaring But Canada Still Nowhere Near Goal Set In 2009

    OTTAWA — A decade-old goal to get at least half a million electric cars on Canada's roads by the end of 2018 appears to have missed the mark by more than 400,000.

    Electric-Car Sales Soaring But Canada Still Nowhere Near Goal Set In 2009

    Locked Up In China: Arrested Canadian Says Legal Trouble Followed Him Home

    Cigana wanted to share his experience with the Chinese legal system after two Canadians — Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor — were arrested there in December.    

    Locked Up In China: Arrested Canadian Says Legal Trouble Followed Him Home

    Tina Fontaine's Cousin Killed During Botched Drug Debt Collection: Crown

    Tina Fontaine's Cousin Killed During Botched Drug Debt Collection: Crown
    In his opening statement, prosecutor Geoffrey Bayly told the jury Fontaine's boyfriend had a methamphetamine debt owed to Meilleur's girlfriend.

    Tina Fontaine's Cousin Killed During Botched Drug Debt Collection: Crown