The wife of a Mountie gunned down in Moncton is sharing her frustrations and is speaking out after parole eligibility for his killer was reduced.
Nadine Larche’s husband Doug was one of three officers killed in June 2014.
She says this doesn’t take the victim’s rights into consideration, “This person committed multiple murders, terrorizing an entire community. There needs to be a better balance between their rights and the victim’s rights.”
When the decision from New Brunswick’s Appeal Court came down this month, Larche began encouraging others to consider writing a victim impact statement and submitting it to Correctional Services Canada to keep in their files if they were affected by the events on June 4, 2014.
“I know what my family experienced and obviously I was there in the lockdown zone. So I remember the fear before even knowing that my husband was killed, so I can appreciate other people’s fears and experiences as well,” Larche says.
She has already had a few friends and strangers reach out with some very powerful words, “I have had a couple of people give me a copy of their letters. They’re really powerful and sad to read as well. Reading them has been difficult, but I hope it sends a message and that the parole board members take them into consideration. Most believe that he’ll never get out now with parole eligibility being 25 years instead of 75 years. There is a chance, it’ll be small, but there is a chance.”
Larche also wants those who were impacted by the tragedy in 2014 to write to their MPs as well, in an effort to encourage them to look at changes to the laws to impose harsher sentences.
On March 2, the New Brunswick Appeal Court stated it had no choice but to reduce the sentence of Justin Bourque.
The ruling was based on a Supreme Court of Canada decision last year that involved Quebec City mosque shooter Alexandre Bissonnette. It struck down a 2011 federal law that made it possible for judges to extend parole ineligibility periods beyond 25 years for people convicted of multiple murders.
With the Appeal Court ruling, Bourque’s parole ineligibility period was reduced to 25 years from the record-setting 75 years.
Three RCMP officers, Constables Douglas Larche, Dave Ross and Fabrice Gevaudan were gunned down by Bourque in Moncton on June 4, 2014. Constables Eric Dubois and Darlene Goguen were also injured.
