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Officials predict frenzy as Homolka hearing nears
CTV.ca News Staff

Two days before a court hearing where Canada's most notorious female inmate will show her face for the first time in years, officials are bracing for a media crush.

On Thursday, a team of Ontario lawmakers will seek an order that would restrict Karla Homolka's movements upon her release from jail in a Quebec courtroom. It's said to be her first public appearance since she was sent to jail in 1993.

In preparation for the media frenzy that is sure to descend upon the town of Joliette, Que., officials have called in additional courthouse constables and are installing a metal detector.
"Security will be increased, given the scope this is taking," said Pierre-Bernard Raymond, acting director of services for the Joliette courthouse told the Globe and Mail.

"We're (taking) all the measures necessary to ensure security. We get the impression this is going to be big."

The Globe reports judicial officials have been receiving media inquiries from across the country and even the United States.

Homolka will leave prison in late June or early July after serving a 12-year sentence for her role in the deaths of Kristen French, Leslie Mahaffy, and her sister, Tammy.

The only hotel in the small town is fully booked and officials have opened a second courtroom that will show the hearing on a large-screen television, the newspaper reports.

Even the prison has increased security measures in the weeks before her release. Prison guards patrol the perimeter and canvas covers the chain-link fence to keep prying eyes off Homolka.

Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday that people are justifiably afraid of Homolka.

"The public are right ... People are very concerned about what she might do again, and we have a responsibility to protect the public interest," McGuinty said.

"People feel that we have a responsibility, and we sense it here in government, too, to do what we can to impose whatever restrictions we can."

On Monday, Homolka's lawyer Sylvie Bordelais revealed that Canada's most notorious female inmate will be personally attending the hearing in Quebec.

However, Bordelais will not disclose whether Homolka will be fighting Ontario's application.

Attorney General Michael Bryan has refused to say exactly what evidence the province will present at Thursday's hearing or what conditions are being sought to restrict Homolka.

"The evidence we will put forward will be provided by a senior police officer for Niagara regional police," Bryant said.

"If it's based only on her involvement in the Bernardo's case, I don't think that it is a solid basis," Louise Viau, law professor at the University of Montreal, told CFCF News.

"But I'm quite sure that there must be something else."

The province will also try to keep tabs on Homolka by asking the Ontario courts to force her to submit a DNA sample that would be kept in a criminal database.

Bryant refused to say if he would lay new charges against Homolka in connection with the rape of a victim known only as Jane Doe.

"I'm focused on putting in place whatever conditions, monitoring and otherwise, that we can to protect the public upon her release," he said.

With a report from CTV's Lisa LaFlamme, CFCF's Jennifer Tryon and files from The Canadian Press