WARNING: This story incorporates particulars of sexual assault and will have an effect on those that have skilled sexual violence or know somebody affected by it.
The person discovered responsible of the 1981 sexual assault and homicide of a Hamilton nursing assistant has all of the sudden deserted his bid for early parole, simply two days into what was anticipated to be a three-week listening to.
“This was a uncommon and surprising flip of occasions,” Crown lawyer Cheryl Gzik instructed CBC Hamilton in an e mail on Wednesday.
Robert Badgerow, who had 4 trials earlier than his 2016 conviction in 23-year-old Diane Werendowicz’s dying, obtained the obligatory sentence of life in jail with no likelihood of parole for 25 years. Usually, he would not have been allowed to use till 2032.
The 66-year-old requested for early parole by requesting a judicial assessment of his sentence below the Felony Code’s Faint Hope Clause.
A 12-person jury started listening to his utility in Ontario’s Superior Courtroom of Justice in Hamilton on Monday.
Gzik, who prosecuted Badgerow in 2016 in Kitchener, stated Wednesday the convicted assassin had deserted his utility to try early parole and the jury was discharged.
“This will affect his potential to go for early parole sooner or later, and Robert Badgerow understands that,” she stated, including no formal cause for abandoning the court docket effort had been given.
Badgerow’s defence crew declined to remark to CBC Hamilton.
Werendowicz was working as a nursing assistant when she was murdered in 1981. (Hamilton Police Service)
Badgerow was the primary individual in Canadian authorized historical past to be tried for a similar homicide 4 occasions.
His authorized proceedings embody a number of appeals and mistrials.
The jury in his early parole try this week would have determined if Badgerow can be allowed to use for early launch after the Crown and defence made their instances about his character, conduct in jail, nature of the crime and lasting affect on Werendowicz’s household.
Badgerow was anticipated to testify.
The Faint Hope Clause was repealed in 2011, however stays an choice for folks serving sentences for homicide dedicated earlier than Dec. 2 of that yr.
Sufferer’s nephew describes trauma of extended court docket processes
When requested if she had heard from Werendowicz’s household concerning the final result, Gzik pointed to a 2023 sufferer affect assertion by her nephew.
“Robert Badgerow was privileged to reside a life and revel in all that it needed to supply with out penalties till 18 years later from the time he murdered my aunt,” it learn.
Badgerow’s try and regain his freedom precipitated Werendowicz’s nephew to expertise “grief, psychological anguish, nervousness and frustration,” he wrote, “which in flip has precipitated me to relive this homicide over and over, giving me over a 40-year sentence in my very own life whereas Robert Badgerow has solely served 15 years.”
In court docket on Monday, Gzik instructed jurors that Badgerow is a “wolf in sheep’s clothes” who shouldn’t be given an opportunity for an early launch.
“Robert Badgerow is deceitful, hasn’t proven any regret or perception into his behaviour and denies the offence,” Gzik stated.
Defence lawyer Aditi Iyer instructed the jury that Badgerow maintains his innocence.
Badgerow sexually assaulted and killed Werendowicz in a ravine after encountering her strolling residence from a Stoney Creek bar, Gzik stated Monday.
Youngsters discovered her physique the subsequent day, but it surely was not till 1998 that investigators linked Badgerow to the scene by extracting DNA collected from semen on Werendowicz’s physique and denims, and matching it to Badgerow’s.
He claimed he and Werendowicz had consensual {sex} in his automobile and another person killed her later.
For anybody who has been sexually assaulted, there may be help accessible by disaster strains and native help companies by way of the Ending Violence Affiliation of Canada database.
