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Post by Sher on Jun 14, 2005 9:02:56 GMT -5
A Westlock-area man on trial for assaulting five of his 11 children took way too seriously the biblical scripture, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," a jury heard yesterday.
In shocking testimony from two of his nine daughters, court heard the 56-year-old man allegedly used to regularly discipline his children with a belt and belt buckle, a willow switch, a wooden paddle, a club and his fists.
He is also accused of sometimes administering the corporal punishment on the girls' bare buttocks, touching three of them in sexually inappropriate ways, calling at least one a "very *friendly* person and sleeper," and uttering death threats.
The jury heard alleged victims say their father sometimes lined them up by age and switched, belted or paddled them one at a time and made them personally cut down the willow switch which would be used to punish them.
"He went way beyond what is acceptable in society," said Crown prosecutor Bill Gatward in his opening statement to the jury, adding the man used "excessive force and discipline in the home over many years."
One woman, now 25, testified she was disciplined at least a couple times a week from age three to 16 and said she suffered welts, bruises, bumps, black eyes and bleeding.
She told the jury she left the three-bedroom farmhouse in 1999 when she was 19, but returned in 2002 to remove three of her sisters after they were severely beaten.
That is when child welfare and police were called.
A second daughter, now 16, tearfully testified her father began punching her in the face and kidneys when she ripped his shirt after he slapped her twice in the face because she was slow getting off the computer.
"He was screaming that he was going to kill me," she said. "I was freaked out and scared."
The man, who can't be named to protect the identity of his alleged victims, faces 11 charges, including assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, sexual exploitation, unlawful sexual touching and uttering death threats.
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Post by Sher on Jun 22, 2005 14:31:56 GMT -5
A city teen testified in court yesterday that she was assaulted and raped by two men in the laundry room of an apartment building near the Clareview LRT station.
The 18-year-old woman said she was 17 and drunk when she agreed to accompany a man she had met at the LRT station to a nearby apartment on Nov.
After being at the suite for a short time, she was led into the laundry room where a man asked her if she wanted to do some cocaine.
When she said no, he asked her to have sex with him and she again said no.
"Then he hit me, punched me in the face and pushed me to the floor," said the woman, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.
After having her pants ripped off and being raped, she testified a second man came into the laundry room and said it was his turn and she was raped again.
The two men then escorted her out of the building and one of them threatened to shoot her if she told police. She then ran to a restaurant where staff called cops.
"It, like, wrecked my life," she said, adding she gets depressed and is scared to go out or take a bus.
Under cross-examination, she admitted she would be unable to recognize her two attackers.
The woman was testifying at the sexual-assault trial of Mohammed Hersi, 26, and Ahmed Farah, 31.
However, only Hersi is accused of sexual assault causing bodily harm and unlawful confinement relating to her alleged rape.
The pair were charged in four separate sexual assaults in Clareview which happened in late 2003, however, charges involving two of the victims have already been dismissed.
Both men are accused of an alleged attack on a 15-year-old girl on Oct. 5, 2003.
Police say the teen was lured into bushes near 139 Avenue and 38 Street and raped by two men.
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Post by Sher on Jun 25, 2005 13:47:34 GMT -5
A jury was asked yesterday to convict Russell Ominayak of breaking into a city woman's south-side home and brutally raping her at knifepoint in front of her young son.
In his closing address, Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga told jurors the finger of blame for the Aug. 22, 2002, attack was pointing directly at Ominayak, 26.
"After an analysis of the evidence you won't have much difficulty in coming to the conclusion that Mr. Ominayak was that man," said Huyser-Wierenga.
"I'm asking you to ensure that justice is done."
Huyser-Wierenga said the victim, 44, picked Ominayak out of a police photo lineup as being the man who "wreaked horror on her life" and identified him in court.
Jurors were told additional evidence includes a palm print of Ominayak's found on a window used to gain entry into the woman's home and DNA taken from hairs at the scene and the knife used in the attack which experts testified Ominayak cannot be excluded from.
Defence lawyer Laurie Wood told jurors the case revolves around identity and urged them to find Ominayak not guilty due to "holes in the evidence."
Wood argued the DNA data is not conclusive and said there were problems with the police investigation regarding the palm print found on the window.
"How safe is this evidence?" she asked.
Wood also suggested that evidence from Ominayak's sister pointed towards her brother being at her townhouse at the time the rape victim testified she was being attacked.
She also said the identification by the victim of Ominayak being her assailant was not strong enough to be sure it was him beyond a reasonable doubt.
Wood concluded by urging jurors to not convict Ominayak just because he is not a likable person and they are disgusted by the "horror" of the attack.
"Just because you don't like him doesn't mean he did it."
Ominayak is charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual interference, unlawful confinement and robbery.
The victim testified she woke up about 6:10 a.m. to find a man armed with a knife inside her Duggan-area home.
She said she was sexually assaulted and her seven-year-old was forced to watch and then the man took them to a bank machine and tried to make the boy withdraw money.
The jury is slated to begin deliberations on Monday.
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Post by Sher on Jun 25, 2005 13:48:27 GMT -5
code:4 An Alberta woman who fled to Mexico with her son 16 years ago should not have been convicted or sentenced for doing so, her lawyer argued Friday in court.
Gisele Marie Goudreault, 46, was convicted of abduction and sentenced earlier this year to two months in jail. She was given credit for four months for time she spent in custody in the United States pending extradition to Canada.
She has been free on bail since February, pending the appeal.
Lawyer Markham Silver said Goudreault took her son, Orey, and fled to Mexico on May 29, 1989. At the time she had temporary custody of the boy, then three years old, until June 1.
However, the boy’s father, Rod Steinmann of Ponoka, changed the custody order so the boy was to be handed over to him on May 29 instead of June 1.
Silver said Goudreault did not get notice of the change to the order.
During the trial, court heard Goudreault gave birth to Orey and raised the boy for 18 months before Steinmann learned he had a son. The couple never married.
Crown prosecutor Morrey Ferries said the Goudreault had a fair trial and the judge handled the case patiently.
“He made no snap decisions. He gave the accused’s council every leeway,” said Ferries.
He said Goudreault had the right to appeal her loss of custody, but instead she took the law into her own hands.
Goudreault spent about four years in Mexico before moving to California. She found work and was married twice.
Silver suggested his client get an absolute discharge. Failing that, he said all the time she spent in custody in the U.S. should be factored in, which would be the equivalent of eight months, at the rate of two-for-one typically given to people held in facilities other than actual prisons.
Justice Peter Martin will deliver his decision on Sept. 15.
The case made international headlines when Goudreault was arrested in February 2003 in her Los Angeles home in front of her son, now 19.
A report said the boy learned of his past while playing on a computer, but Silver disputed that, saying Goudreault told her son about his father when he was nine or 10.
He said the publicity has a deterrent effect on others and specifically it has had a deleterious effect on Goudreault, drawing unwanted attention to her.
Silver also said that since Goudreault has been in Canada she has not seen her son, who is attending school in the United States.
“Over the last year she has come to know the pain and anguish of being removed from her child,” said Silver.
Martin said Goudreault may now understand some of the pain and anguish Steinmann went through for 18 years.
“If he wants to be with his mother, there is nothing stopping him,” said Martin.
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Post by Sher on Jun 28, 2005 11:45:16 GMT -5
Jurors in two high-profile criminal cases were sequestered in hotels last night after failing to reach verdicts, and will continue their deliberations today.
One panel of 12 is deciding the fate of accused home-invasion rapist Russell Ominayak, while the other dozen are contemplating accused killer Darcy Fouquet's future.
Ominayak, 26, is facing eight charges after a woman was brutally raped at knifepoint in front of her seven-year-old son by a man who broke into their southside home.
The 44-year-old victim identified Ominayak, both in a police photo lineup and in court, as being the man who "wreaked horror on her life" on Aug. 22, 2002.
Jurors were told additional evidence includes Ominayak's palm print found on a window used to gain entry into the woman's home, and DNA taken from hairs at the scene and the knife used in the attack - from which experts testified Ominayak cannot be excluded.
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Defence lawyer Laurie Wood told jurors the case revolves around identity and urged them to find Ominayak not guilty due to "holes in the evidence."
Ominayak is charged with aggravated sexual assault, sexual interference, unlawful confinement and robbery.
The victim testified she woke up about 6:10 a.m. to find a man armed with a knife inside her Duggan-area home.
She said she was sexually assaulted while her son was forced to watch, and that her attacker then took them to a bank machine and tried to make the boy withdraw money.
Meanwhile, Fouquet, 41, is charged with first-degree murder for the Oct. 8, 2003, shooting death of 17-year-old cocaine dealer Richard Prasad in a Mill Woods alley near 85 Street and Knottwood Road about 1 a.m.
The jury heard Prasad was fatally blasted with a shotgun as he sat in his car during a "drug deal gone bad."
Crack addict Sean Reaugh, 25, testified he was with Fouquet. He said he stole Prasad's wallet moments after the shooting and used the $500 cash in it to buy cocaine. Reaugh testified they had been home "getting high on cocaine" before the shooting and left to find more drugs.
He also said Fouquet was holding a 12-gauge shotgun and saying he was "planning on robbing somebody."
While trying to find a dealer, they met a woman who was waiting for hers and accepted an offer to wait with her.
When Prasad drove up, Reaugh said they went over and Fouquet fired a single shot through the window.
In his closing address to the jury yesterday, defence lawyer Walter Raponi argued Fouquet should be found not guilty because the Crown's case "is simply speculation" based on "unreliable and incredible information."
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Post by Sher on Jun 29, 2005 13:02:06 GMT -5
A jury yesterday convicted a man of breaking into an Edmonton woman's southside home and brutally raping her at knifepoint in front of her young son.
And now the province is considering whether or not to seek to have the rapist declared a dangerous offender.
Jurors - midway through the second day of deliberations - found Russell Dean Ominayak, 26, guilty of all eight charges he was facing, including aggravated sexual assault.
A female juror on the seven-woman, five-man panel was crying as the verdict was read out, however, Ominayak showed no emotion as he stood in the prisoners' box.
Crown prosecutor Mark Huyser-Wierenga told the judge Alberta Justice will look at the case and decide if it wants to pursue dangerous-offender status for Ominayak.
"The severity of these crimes and Mr. Ominayak's past crimes are a pretty clear indication that he is a danger to the public," said Huyser-Wierenga.
The prosecutor said the rapist is still facing seven other charges relating to allegations of assaults following home invasions and an attempted carjacking.
He said the allegations are "less shocking" than his home-invasion rape conviction, but still "disturbing in the way he invaded the sanctity of people's homes."
Huyser-Wierenga said he immediately called the victim after the verdict was reached to let her know the result.
"She was delighted, absolutely delighted," he said, describing the 44-year-old as strong and courageous.
"This particular victim is an incredibly strong witness in my view and a courageous person and was very committed to going through the process," he said. "She didn't want to see anybody else go through what she did."
The prosecutor added the woman is doing well in getting her life back together, but said "we can all understand it will never be the same as it was before Aug. 22, 2002."
The woman testified she woke up about 6:10 a.m. to find a man armed with a knife inside her Duggan-area home.
She said the man ripped off her pyjamas and roughly touched her private parts while forcing her seven-year-old son to watch. He then tried to make her perform a sex act on her son while continuing to molest her, and made the boy sexually touch his mother.
He then had her drive to a bank and get her son to withdraw money. While the boy was in the bank, the woman ran out of the van and the man fled in the vehicle.
A nurse who specializes in examinations of sexual-assault victims testified it was the most violent case she'd seen.
Ominayak was convicted of aggravated sexual assault, sexual interference, unlawful confinement and robbery.
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Post by Sher on Jun 29, 2005 13:05:17 GMT -5
Happy birthday, Mr. Killer.
Darcy Fouquet turns 42 today, wondering if he'll ever get a shot at parole after a jury convicted him of second-degree murder last night.
Four of the jurors recommended Fouquet serve 20 years before becoming eligible for parole. Two recommended he serve the minimum 10 years and the other six made no recommendations.
Court of Queen's Bench Justice Frans Slatter will have the jurors' recommendations in mind when he sentences Fouquet on July 8.
Fouquet was convicted of the Oct. 8, 2003, shooting death of 17-year-old cocaine dealer Richard Prasad in a Mill Woods alley near 85 Street and Knottwood Road.
The jury heard Prasad was fatally blasted with a shotgun as he sat in his car during a "drug deal gone bad."
Crack addict Sean Reaugh, 25, testified he was with Fouquet and said he stole Prasad's wallet moments after the shooting and used the $500 cash in it to buy cocaine.
Reaugh testified they had been home "getting high on cocaine" before the shooting and left to find more drugs. He also said Fouquet was holding a 12-gauge shotgun and saying he was "planning on robbing somebody."
While trying to find a dealer, they met a woman who was waiting for hers and accepted an offer to wait with her. When Prasad drove up, Reaugh said they went over and Fouquet fired a single shot through the window.
In his closing address to the jury yesterday, defence lawyer Walter Raponi argued Fouquet should be found not guilty because the Crown's case "is simply speculation" based on "unreliable and incredible information."
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Post by Sher on Jun 29, 2005 13:05:55 GMT -5
A former city boxer and club owner convicted of tossing his ex-girlfriend down some stairs and stomping on her - breaking her front teeth - avoided jail yesterday.
Chris Cahill, 34, was handed a 20-month conditional sentence to be served in the community after Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton ruled the incident was at the "very low end" of aggravated assaults.
"I am satisfied there is little or no risk to the community," said Acton, describing Cahill as co-operative because he agreed to counselling despite maintaining he is innocent.
Cahill must abide by a daily 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, take counselling and perform 75 hours of community service. He was also fined $150, banned from possessing weapons for 10 years and ordered to submit a sample of his DNA.
A jury convicted Cahill of aggravated assault on April 8.
Jurors heard Cahill was at his Twin Brooks home on Dec. 5, 2002, when his then-girlfriend, Brenda Lee Doel, came over and confronted him about cheating on her.
Doel, a 29-year-old former model, testified Cahill grabbed her by her shoulders, tossed her against a wall, threw her down two stairs and stomped on the back of her neck.
"My head just bounced off the floor," said a tearful Doel. "He stopped right away. He knew he had done something wrong as soon as the teeth came out and went flying."
The next day Cahill took her to a dentist and offered to pay for the dental work, but told her to say she had fallen and threatened her and her family, she said.
Doel said it cost her $12,000 to fix her teeth and she still has problems with her jaw and resulting headaches.
"I'm half the mouth I used to be," she joked.
In a victim impact statement, Doel - a former Australian TV commercial celebrity who was kicked out of that country for working illegally - says she has suffered life-long mental and physical changes from the assault.
Cahill, who was a promising boxer back in the late '80s, testified the allegations were "absolute garbage." He testified Doel was drunk and high and did a "face plant." He accused her of lying in an effort to extort $25,000 from him.
Meanwhile, Doel has filed a $750,000 lawsuit against Cahill and he has responded with a $207,500 counter-suit.
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Post by Sher on Jun 30, 2005 15:35:39 GMT -5
The trial of a fiercely religious Westlock-area farmer convicted of beating his children ended with a mother's curse yesterday.
As the man was led out of the courtroom to start his five-year prison sentence, his wife rushed to his side.
"I love you. Take care of yourself," she said, brushing back tears before turning on her own children - her husband's accusers.
"I hate you guys forever," she hissed.
The daughters, still shaken by their ordeal, insisted they had no regrets.
"It's long past the time when anything she says matters to us," said one daughter. "She made her choice."
The man - who cannot be identified to protect his victims - was convicted by a jury June 16 of brutally disciplining his children with switches, paddles and belts. He was also found guilty of touching some of his daughters in a sexually inappropriate way.
He was convicted on all 10 charges, including assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, unlawful sexual touching and sexual exploitation.
The jury heard some of the man's daughters say he used to regularly punish his children with a belt and buckle, a willow switch, a wooden paddle and his fists.
He was also accused of sometimes administering corporal punishment on the girls' bare buttocks, touching three of them in sexually inappropriate ways, calling at least one a "very *friendly* person and sleeper" and uttering death threats.
Several of the daughters read victim impact statements yesterday. They all described a lingering history of nightmares and depression stemming from the abuse.
"Everything seems hopeless to me," said one daughter. "Sometimes I think that, just by being alive, I hurt the people I love.
"I've spent a lot of time thinking of ways to kill myself. My dad hates me and wanted to kill me. For me, growing up is sad and cruel."
The convicted man's wife defended him doggedly throughout the trial.
Yesterday, she accused her children of being "the biggest liars in the country.
"And the things they've been printing in the paper, they just cut like a knife," she said, adding her husband plans to appeal.
Crown counsel William Gatward told Court of Queen's Bench Justice Darlene Acton he only had one regret coming out of the trial.
"His wife should have been charged, too," he said.
The man's lawyer, Arnold Piragoff, asked for a conditional sentence, citing his client's age and asking why none of his accusers fled the family home.
"This was not a reign of terror."
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Post by Sher on Jul 8, 2005 2:33:15 GMT -5
A panhandler with a penchant for soft toys, steel-toed boots and violence was sentenced to 16 months for manslaughter yesterday.
And Judge Leo Wenden also recommended Anthony Littlebear Desmoulin, 22, spend his sentence under treatment at Alberta Hospital.
"Deep-rooted anger, underdeveloped social skills ... I think that pretty much sums it up," said Wenden, reading from a psychological assessment.
Court heard that on June 7, 2004, around 3:30 p.m., Desmoulin was begging for change in front of the Stanley Milner Library downtown, carrying what witnesses said looked like a stuffed toy bear.
He approached Mustafa Mohammad, then 30, an Iraqi-Canadian newly released on parole for a robbery conviction in Vancouver. Court heard Mohammad told Desmoulin to "f--k off" - and that's when the fists started flying.
"They seemed at first to be trading punches equally, and grappled each other to the ground," said Crown prosecutor Lawrence Van d**e. While Mohammad bent over to pick up his keys, Desmoulin - wearing steel-toed workboots - kicked him in the head.
Mohammad flew back and cracked his skull on the pavement.
He was taken to hospital in a coma; on June 18, 2004, he was taken off life-support and declared dead.
The Crown argued for a sentence of up to four years, citing Desmoulin's record of 34 criminal convictions - 10 of them assaults - dating back to his 12th year.
"What we have here is an escalating pattern of assaults. The protection of the public should be paramount."
Defence lawyer Laurie Wood, meanwhile, pointed to her client's long history of mental illness: fetal alcohol syndrome, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia and a history of depression dating back to his eighth year.
"He's spent extended periods in the Children's Hospital in Calgary and at the Royal Alex," she said.
"He was setting fires and sniffing solvents at home when he was 10. This is a sad history."
Wenden gave Desmoulin 26 months' credit on his 42-month sentence. He'll be prohibited from owning weapons for 10 years after he completes his sentence.
Wood said she's hoping her client can find space in a life-skills program at the psychiatric hospital.
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Post by Sher on Aug 4, 2005 15:41:37 GMT -5
A man who pleaded guilty to asking a woman to kick his groin before putting his hand down her shirt and masturbating was sentenced yesterday to 12 months in jail.
Gerald Allan Naud, 36, who the crown prosecutor said is at "extremely high risk to reoffend," failed in a bid to convince the judge to send him to an out-of-jail alcohol treatment program.
Naud, a former boxer, was also sentenced to 60 days for seven counts of breach of probation, mainly for drinking, one count of mischief obstruction, one count of mischief damage and one count of failure to appear, to be served at the same time as the one-year sentence for sexual assault.
Court heard that on Oct.7, 2004, at 1 a.m. Naud grabbed the arm of a woman as she left her downtown office, demanding she kick his privates.
"Kick me in the nuts," crown prosecutor Allison Downey said Naud told the woman.
The woman escaped his grasp, but before she could get away, Naud put his hand down her shirt.
The woman, who fled to her car, noticed the man masturbating as she drove away.
Naud also pleaded guilty to mischief charges for posing as a landlord and having a car towed that belonged to a man who paid to park at the building, as well as emptying a fire extinguisher.
Downey said at first glance the sexual assault seemed minor, but he said there is evidence his attacks are escalating.
Lawyer David Willson said his client does bizarre things when he drinks. He lobbied to have Naud enter an alcohol treatment program in October at the Herb Jamieson Centre.
He said Naud isn't sexually deviant unless he's drinking.
"It has to be addressed at the initial stage, which is the drinking," Willson said.
An agitated Naud, who was a professional boxer and said he is working to become a born again Christian, even tried to sway the judge. "They put me locked up 23 hours a day. I can't get no treatment, I've inquired."
But Judge Clayton Spence wasn't convinced.
"The priority here as far as I'm concerned is the protection of the public, not his rehabilitation," Spence said.
Naud is also required to provide information on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.
In August 2004, Naud pleaded guilty to sexual assault involving a $100 wager aimed at luring a woman into his grip.
In March 2002, Naud was convicted of sexually assaulting an off-duty city cop as she jogged in the river valley.
At the time of the 2001 attack, he was on bail for assaulting another woman.
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Post by Sher on Sept 13, 2005 12:32:06 GMT -5
A man convicted of the grisly sex-slaying of a fellow Salvation Army hostel resident begged the victim's devastated family for forgiveness yesterday as he was sentenced to life in prison.
Mark Allan Valkonen, 35, was charged with first-degree murder in the March 2003 slaying of 19-year-old Kyle Driscoll, but pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a plea bargain in Queen's Bench yesterday.
According to an agreed statement of facts filed in court, Valkonen and Driscoll, both residents of the Salvation Army hostel for men in downtown Edmonton, were together in Valkonen's bedroom sometime around March 2, 2003.
Valkonen bound Driscoll's hands and ankles tightly with bootlaces and shoelaces and wrapped a long bootlace around Driscoll's neck. Driscoll died of ligature strangulation from the bootlace around his neck.
Valkonen also had anal sex with Driscoll, though Crown prosecutor Marilena Carminati said it was impossible to tell whether the sex occurred before or after Driscoll died.
She also said there was no evidence to show whether it was consensual.
Valkonen wrapped Driscoll's body in garbage bags and taped the bags around the corpse. He took wooden slats out of his mattress box and hid the body there.
To explain the putrid stench wafting from his room, Valkonen told hostel residents he had a bowel infection. He put tape over his vents and baking soda boxes around the room.
Hostel caretakers discovered Driscoll's rotting corpse on March 25, when they went in to clean the room. Valkonen had been booted out of the hostel the night before, following an altercation with some residents.
In a victim impact statement she read aloud through tears and sobs, Driscoll's mother, Cindy Hogg, said her family has been shattered by guilt over her firstborn son's death.
Driscoll had been going through a "difficult time" when he moved into the hostel, said Hogg. "Many of us wish we had done more to help him... I know I'll never forgive myself for not letting him stay home."
Hogg told court she still gets flashbacks of how she could smell the stench of her son's body all the way down the hall when she went to view him.
Valkonen, a chubby, balding man with reddish hair and a goatee, didn't cry until his lawyer told court his deviant sexual fantasies were due to sexual abuse he suffered as a teen - at the hands of a male family friend - after his father died.
Addressing Driscoll's family, Valkonen said if he could take back what he'd done to Kyle, he would.
"I humbly beg you to please forgive me for what I've done, and listen to me one last time when I say that I am very, very sorry."
Valkonen was convicted of criminal negligence causing death in the 2001 bondage death of Shaun Peterson, 23, in a Leduc hotel. Peterson was strangled from a shoelace tied around his neck.
Around the time he murdered Driscoll, Valkonen was on a chemical castration drug.
He will be eligible to apply for parole in 10 years.
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