Canadian mum kills daughter to keep boyfriend

[Raxeph]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/736039/canadian-mum-guilty-of-killing-daughter


A mother in easternmost Canada pleaded guilty on Friday to murdering her only child in a twisted bid to save her relationship with a boyfriend, a court official said.

Penny Boudreau, 34, was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 20 years for strangling her 12-year-old daughter Karissa after her boyfriend had given her an ultimatum: Karissa or him.


The Supreme Court of Nova Scotia heard she drove Karissa to a remote spot near the town of Bridgewater in January 2008 and told her to get out of the car.


They argued and Penny tackled Karissa to the ground, pinned her with her knees, wrapped twine around her neck and strangled her.


"Karissa said: 'Mummy, don't'," prosecutor Paul Scovil told the court, as relatives sobbed, according to local media.


Boudreau then drove to nearby LaHave River and rolled her daughter's lifeless body down to the river bank, later discarding some of Karissa's clothes in a public garbage can.


In a bid to conceal her crime Boudreau reported her daughter missing, appearing two days later on television to plead for her to come home before Karissa's frozen body was discovered by searchers.


Boudreau was arrested for the murder in June 2008.How monstrous. :eek: She murdered her own child just so she could be with him?! Disgusting. :mad:

[yarrow_elfglow]

Cloakly told me about this yesterday. It is very monsterous. *shakes head*

[mephistopheles]

I remember Cloaky posting about this ages ago. How sad, and how twisted of the mother :foh:.

[Caitlin.ann]

Glad she's being punished for her crime.

[Cloaked Raven]

I'm a resident of Lunenburg county Nova Scotia, where this happened.... Murders and missing children are VERY rare here, so that's why people are in such an uproar about Karissa's disappearance and death.

I was in Bridgewater the day they found Karissa's body on the banks of the LaHave River...I can still see the flashing blue and red lights on top of the RCMP cruisers from across the river... I just KNEW that she had been found and the news wasn't good.

There was a memorial for Karissa on this past Tuesday in Bridgewater at Ship Yard's Landing Park...Turns out that it was the anniversary of her death instead of the anniversary of her going missing.

I did a thread about the memorial and updated it with yesterday's plea and Penny's sentencing.

http://mysticwicks.com/showthread.php?t=209035#post3851339

You know, what Penny did really angers me... To kill your own child because your SO gave you an ultimatum of them or your child??? Good grief, if Penny didn't want Vernon spitting up with her because Karissa was living with them, there were TONS of other options for Karissa... She could have gone back to live with her dad again, she could have moved in with her stepfather, her grandparents, a friend, even foster care would have been better than killing her for crying out loud!

I have met both Penny and her former boyfriend, Vernon on several occasions, they both worked at the grocery store my husband and I shop at before this happened. Everyone figured one or both of them had something to do with Karissa's disappearance and when Penny was arrested last June, people were screaming "Susan Smith" about her.

When she made a court appearance sometime last year, people were calling her everything but a Caucasian woman... "Piece of s##t" is one of the milder things the people outside of the courthouse called her.

Ironically, Penny wound up "losing" Vernon anyways... They split up not long after they moved to Halifax believe it or not. Vernon wound up moving to the Valley or New Ross and is still living there to this day. Rumor has it he still drives the Neon that Penny used to transport Karissa's body to the banks of the LaHave River in.

People here are still reeling from the shock and are very angry that Karissa was murdered. There was NO NEED of this happening... She was an INNOCENT CHILD and paid the price of her mother's selfishness.

Sorry about the vent, anything dealing with Karissa upsets me.

[Dr. K]

This makes me sick, literally. I read this and my stomach turned. How in the world can a Mother so that to her child. This is evil, she deserves much worse than she got!

[Cloaked Raven]

This makes me sick, literally. I read this and my stomach turned. How in the world can a Mother so that to her child. This is evil, she deserves much worse than she got!
I agree with you Dr. K.

You should have seen the statuses of a lot of my Facebook friends... People were saying that Penny should be put into the general population of the prison and let the other prisoners "take care of her" kind of thing. People are angry and shocked about this... Myself included.

I had been willing to give Penny the benefit of the doubt but after reading the story about what happened that January night in the Chronicle Herald (our provincial paper), I found myself wishing someone would do to her what she did to her daughter.

I hope if she does live until 2028 (when she comes up for parole) that the justice system DENIES her parole. She should NEVER EVER be let out again, nor should she be ever allowed to have another child!

[spiral]

Sorry about the vent, anything dealing with Karissa upsets me.

I don't blame you, it's awful.

It doesn't excuse what she did, but I can't help but wonder if there was some mental/emotional disorder. I just can't fathom how someone could do something like that.

Bastard of a boyfriend as well, telling a mother to choose between him and her daughter. These two are good examples of people who don't deserve to have children.

[Anteros]

That's so sad :(. I'm glad they're locking that woman up for life.

[Cloaked Raven]

I don't blame you, it's awful.

It doesn't excuse what she did, but I can't help but wonder if there was some mental/emotional disorder. I just can't fathom how someone could do something like that.

Bastard of a boyfriend as well, telling a mother to choose between him and her daughter. These two are good examples of people who don't deserve to have children.
Thanks.

No, Penny does not have any mental illness that we know of. She was deemed fit to stand trial this past summer and would have been facing charges of FIRST degree murder if she hadn't pled guilty to second degree murder.

[Laisrean]

Behold the power of love!


:goodgrief

[Artiste-LiLi]

How sad and awful. And how horrible that she is not the first and will not be the last.

[Cloaked Raven]

Now the Chronicle Herald's site has about 20 different stories on this up...Including a very detailed and extremely graphic account of what happened that cold January night last year... And I mean they don't leave anything out either.

I think I'm gonna be sick.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Not trying to be an ass as I really do think the woman should be racked across the coals. If no racked across the coals then allowed to undergo the same experience her daughter suffered, without the final result of course. From my perspective wouldn't want to end her suffering to quickly.

However, that said, is this not the same case that was put before us about 6 - 9 months ago asking for energy for the beseiged mom. Telling us how the mom was being fasely accused and just could not have done what was being said. To send energy so the real killer could be found and caught?

The thread where anyone who made mention of Susan Smith was jumped upon. I tried to find the original thread but think it has been deleted after so long.

[Cloaked Raven]

Not trying to be an ass as I really do think the woman should be racked across the coals. If no racked across the coals then allowed to undergo the same experience her daughter suffered, without the final result of course. From my perspective wouldn't want to end her suffering to quickly.

I say let Penny in with the other inmates instead of sequestering her away...


However, that said, is this not the same case that was put before us about 6 - 9 months ago asking for energy for the beseiged mom. Telling us how the mom was being fasely accused and just could not have done what was being said. To send energy so the real killer could be found and caught?

The thread where anyone who made mention of Susan Smith was jumped upon. I tried to find the original thread but think it has been deleted after so long.
We were not sure at the time if Penny had actually done this or not... That's the thing, no one could believe that a mother would do this to her child at all. I was on the fence about Penny... I couldn't get my head around why she would ever do such a thing to her own child yet the RCMP wouldn't have charged her with first degree murder if they didn't have sufficient evidence.

The one thread was about asking how to help the police find the real killer and it was BEFORE Penny was arrested back in June. I remember, I have an almost photographic memory and I started the thread myself. I had started another thread about energy to help CALM the residents here down... I thought that maybe helping our residents let go of their anger would be better than feeding the fire of negativity that swept the area after Penny was arrested.

That's what the threads were about.

[MonSno_LeeDra]

Ok, I though it was but like I said could not find the theads to make sure. However, I guess one could say the energy worked for they did find and convict the killer.

Sad part seems to be the one who caused or inspired it will walk. I would think the man who said me or the daughter would be as culprabile as the person who did the actual crime.

[~Belladonna~]

This is SICK!!!

[Cloaked Raven]

Ok, I though it was but like I said could not find the theads to make sure. However, I guess one could say the energy worked for they did find and convict the killer.

Sad part seems to be the one who caused or inspired it will walk. I would think the man who said me or the daughter would be as culprabile as the person who did the actual crime.
I wish I could say that Vernon is being charged as an accessory to Karissa's murder but I can't... So far, the RCMP are not commenting on Vernon at all, except he was going to be a witness in court if Penny went to trial.

I just hope Bridgewater and the surrounding areas can heal and remember Karissa with love... I have a feeling that the residents here will be reeling from this for a long time to come. I know I will be.

[Glowy]

what a horrid woman

[Flaire-FireStar]

This one is just mind-boggling. :wtf:

[Shanti]

Birthing does guarantee parental love...in any species!!
We are animals and sometimes it shows.

Sad yes.
Shocking, no.

[Carri]

There are so many people who want to be parents and can't have children.

I have no words for what that makes me feel.

[Lonely_Geek77]

"All's fair in love..."

[Laisrean]

Birthing does guarantee parental love...in any species!!
We are animals and sometimes it shows.

Sad yes.
Shocking, no.

True. Mother rats have been known to devour their young, and I'm sure the same is true in many other species. We would like to think that as humans we're better than the animals, but we're only smarter.... in every other sense we're just as bad, or even worse.

[Laisrean]

There are so many people who want to be parents and can't have children.

I have no words for what that makes me feel.

That's true. She could have put her daughter up for adoption. This is something I never understood about parents who kill their kids because they don't want them... are they too stupid to realize they can part with them without resorting to murder?

She deserves everything the Canadian justice system will throw at her and more (because unfortunately, Canada doesn't have a death penalty).

[Iris]

I'm so confused that the mother's response, when asked to choose between her child and her lover, wasn't to say to her lover "Hon, you know where the door is. Use it."

My mum was once given a similar ultimatum (between her lover at the time and a relative's kids she was fostering due to their mother's death.) She did everything but pack the guy's bags for him.

If someone loves you, they love everything about you. Including your kids. I wouldn't even allow a guy to blackmail me over my pets. I love my pets. He needs to accept my pets or he isn't the right guy for me. Times that by 100 for kids.

Besides which, any guy who can make that kind of an ultimatum really isn't someone you wanna have in your life...

I don't know what must have been wrong with this woman to act the way she did in response to this. I mean most people, if they really thought giving up the kid was best...would look at adoption or residential care or something. I know she was found competant, but there must be a screw loose SOMEWHERE and some serious emotional/abandonment issues going on.

Then again, there are always cases in the news of parents who are involved in custody battles killing the kids to hurt their partner...

And the mind continues to boggle.