The woman who killed a Sudbury man three years ago will be back on the streets this summer. His family feels victimized
by the system.
BY KEITH LACEY
Kelly McCandless misses her dad. A lot.
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?Eight months behind bars for murdering someone, it just doesn?t seem right,? says Kelly McCandless. Her father, Paul Kuczma, died three years ago. |
So do her six brothers and sisters and members of her extended family.
It hurts even more that the young woman responsible for her father?s death is living in a halfway house and will be free on parole this summer.
?The thing that upsets me the most is she didn?t get a stiff enough sentence,? said McCandless, while looking at photos of her father.
Just over three years ago on March 16, 2001 Paul Kuczma?s life ended in violence when a drug-addicted teenager plunged a knife into his heart.
Crystale Belanger, then 18, admitted to Greater Sudbury Police hours later she was the person responsible.
Belanger, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was given a 42-month penitentiary term on April 2, 2002, has been living in a Hamilton halfway house for several months.
She?s been denied full parole twice in the past five months, including a second time only a few weeks ago.
Unless she re-offends, Belanger will be free on full parole in five months effective Aug. 1. Federal laws call for statutory release from the penitentiary system after serving two-thirds of any sentence that?s not a life sentence.
National Parole Board records obtained by McCandless and her family, say Belanger is pregnant with her second child, is involved in a relationship with a recovering drug addict, and she has been unable to find work or return to school.
This, needless to say, has McCandless and her family, very upset.
?Getting 42 months for killing someone so violently just isn?t enough time.
?Then we found out she only served about eight months before being released into a halfway house...eight months behind bars for murdering someone, it just doesn?t seem right.?
Since her father?s death, McCandless says she?s kept a promise to keep in touch with prison officials and the National Parole Board regarding Belanger?s progress and to ensure she won?t harm anyone else.
While she ?feels sorry for Crystale in many ways,? she will never forgive Belanger for what she did.
She doesn?t want Belanger to spend the rest of her life behind bars. However, her family is outraged she was released into the community so soon after beginning her sentence, said McCandless.
An agreed statement of facts read into the record in court says that as of March 2001, ?Crystale had become heavily involved in the use of crystal methamphetamine, and ecstasy, along with other illegal drugs.?
She was also desperate for money when she attended a party at Paul Kuchma?s West End apartment.
No one was there when Belanger stabbed Kuczma, but several witnesses saw Belanger carrying a knife.
At the party Belanger told several people she had been on a drug binge for two or three weeks and she showed off her tattoos.
One of Kuczma?s sons and two others visited the Kuczma apartment around 6 pm and stayed about 15 minutes. They noticed Belanger appeared to be intoxicated.
The group left about 6:10 pm. Between 6:15 and 6:18 pm, police received a call from Kuczma. He said a young woman had stabbed him.
?He said it was Crystale from Levack and his son knew her. He said he didn?t know why she stabbed him.
Ambulance attendants arrived at 6:22 pm. The phone was off the hook. Kuczma was pronounced dead at the scene.
The knife had a 20-centimetre blade. ?Almost the entire blade was embedded in Mr. Kuczma?s chest,? says the court record.
Belanger was arrested just before 3 am the next day.
She was pregnant with her first child while awaiting sentence in Kuczma?s death.
A clinical report by a psychologist determined Belanger was a ?moderate risk to reoffend? and areas of vulnerability were drug use and her circle of associates.
National Parole Board records indicate Belanger has stayed out of trouble since being released into a halfway house. However, she?s shown little initiative to improve her life, continues to minimize what she did and has twice been denied full parole because of her attitude.
As part of her release into a halfway house in February 2003, Belanger was ordered not to consume drugs or alcohol, go anywhere where alcohol is consumed and not have any contact with anyone with a criminal record.
After attending a drug rehabilitation program in Hamilton, Belanger has spent the past 13 months at a halfway house in Hamilton.
During a meeting with a three-member board of the National Parole Board last October, she was denied full parole.
When seeking parole, Belanger told parole board members she planned on renting an apartment in Hamilton if granted full parole, but she ?vascillated between taking the apartment by herself or having her partner? live with her.
Members of the board noted Belanger expected the boyfriend to pay first and last month?s rent and pay for furniture.
She also told the board she would apply for a daycare subsidy and planned to find full-time work or try and get into post-secondary studies.
The board?s decision on denying full parole clearly doubted Belanger?s motives.
She had not found a job and didn?t appear to be seriously looking for one, said the board?s report.
During the hearing, board members also found Belanger ?did not display a great deal of insight into the reasons? for her offence.?
Despite a good network of support in the community, the board ruled ?there are concerns that you use people and situations...and that you are not taking full responsibility for yourself.?
Full parole is seen as premature and is therefore, denied.?
A second application for full parole only a few weeks ago made many of the same assessments.
The board noted Belanger has discontinued sessions with a psychologist, remains unable to find any kind of meaningful work and admitted to ?having cravings for substances over the holiday season.?
While commended for admitting her cravings and not acting on them, especially while being pregnant, core programming for substance abuse is still needed even though Belanger does not believe she needs this kind of counselling.
Belanger?s parenting skills were also questioned.
?While there have been some changes since your release, there does not appear to be any substantial differences with mitigation to risk since the board denied your full parole in October, 2003. In fact, there have been new factors which may lead to an increase in risk.?
These include recent cravings for drugs, pending birth of a second child and lack of a job and income.
The board recommended day parole continue at the halfway house and full parole was again denied.
McCandless says her interpretation of the parole board reports are Belanger is not doing much to improve her life.
?Her whole attitude is one where she takes advantage of others,? she said. ?I don?t think she has much remorse for killing my dad and I don?t think she really understands how much pain and suffering she?s caused.
?I don?t think she?s changed at all.?
Canada?s criminal justice system needs to look long and hard at how they treat violent criminals, said McCandless.
?If she?s not doing anything to help herself, then she should be put back where she belongs in the penitentiary,? she said.
?She doesn?t have a job and she?s bringing another innocent child into the world.?
There?s not a day goes by when she or her brothers and sisters don?t think about their father.
?We all miss him very much,? she said. ?She (Belanger) gets to go on with her life... we?re left with nothing but memories.?
Carol Sparling, regional manager of community relations and training for the National Parole Board, told Northern Life in a phone interview from her Ottawa office she would not discuss specifics of Belanger?s release.
However, she did confirm many victims of families of violent crime are often very upset with how the system works.
?They want to know what?s happening with the people responsible for these crimes and we always try to accommodate them.?
Sparling said parole board reports are meant for family victims and not for the media.
However, she acknowledged there?s nothing the board can do if a family member goes public.
Family members of victims of violent crime can not make presentations to the parole board.
The board releases offenders into either halfway houses or into community correctional centres, said Sparling.
Anyone considered a strong risk to re-offend while on release is denied day parole, she said.
?The offender must be willing to live by special conditions the board has imposed,? she said. ?If they are unwilling to live by those terms and conditions...or if their circumstances change and they are considered a high risk...the board has the right to return them into custody.?
The fact the parole board has twice denied Belanger full parole in the past five months is a good indication they still don?t feel she?s ready to live on her own without any supervision, said Sparling.
The board?s main role includes not only assessing risk, but attempting to prepare offenders for life in regular society once they are released, said Sparling.
None of this helps McCandless put the past behind her.
?I understand the concept of parole, but if you?re not working or trying to better yourself, then you should have to stay in jail, especially when you?re convicted of such a serious violent crime,? she said.
?To think my tax dollars are paying for her to live in freedom in a halfway house and she?s able to travel all over Ontario to meet with her friends and family and visit her boyfriend. It gets me very upset.?
