Normand Guerin was granted permission for unescorted leaves, but he will “never be left alone” during them.
One of Quebec’s most notorious killers has been granted a sliver of freedom for the first time in more than four decades following his arrest in 1979 for the murders of two teenagers who were strangled and tossed off the Jacques Cartier Bridge.
In a decision made last week by the Parole Board of Canada, Normand Guérin, 71, was granted permission to take part in unescorted leaves, from a minimum security penitentiary, for the first time in 45 years. In a written summary of the decision, the parole board said it was being very cautious in Guérin’s case. He is allowed to take part in leaves that will last 12 hours to take part in a program designed for personal improvement, but he is not allowed to take part in 36-hour leaves.
Unescorted leaves are the first step toward parole for offenders serving lengthy sentences or life sentences. In the same decision, the parole board turned Guérin down for both day and full parole.
On July 3, 1979, the victims — Chantal Dupont, 15, and Maurice Marcil, 14 — were returning home to Longueuil from an outdoor concert held near the La Ronde amusement park. Pimparé, then 25, and Guérin, then 26, were armed with a knife and a starter’s pistol when they surprised the teenagers. Dupont was raped by both men before they strangled her and Marcil. The two bodies were tossed off the bridge and were discovered in the river several days later.
Police eventually learned that between June and July 1979, Pimparé and Guérin went on a violent crime spree during which they attacked at least nine people in an area close to the bridge. The victims were between 16 and 65 years old and two young girls were raped.
Guérin has since admitted he sexually assaulted 35 people and that he was never charged for many of those offences. He also admitted that he began touching girls inappropriately by the age of 10 and that he tried to sexually assault girls when he was a teenager.
He has been in a minimum-security penitentiary since August 2012 and he was first granted permission for escorted leaves in 2014.
“Your case management team (the people who prepare an offender for a release) notes that you are spending your time positively through employment at the (penitentiary) library (since 2016) and escorted leaves. Since 2012, you have benefited from around 30 outings for medical reasons, around 20 for family relationships and around 20 for personal development,” the parole board wrote. “According to the case management team, you make efforts to socialize with other people (including fellow inmates). You have opened up to others about your fragility in the face of rejection and abandonment.”
Since 2005, Guérin has been taking hormonal medication, a form chemical castration.
“The post-treatment evaluation nevertheless reported worrying results in terms of sexual deviance. According to you, you are now less overwhelmed by it and have much less libido, while your sexual thoughts were previously very present. In your opinion, this is the most effective intervention to improve control your deviant sexual fantasies. You also maintain that you no longer maintain these types of fantasies.”
Last year, a psychologist who assessed Guérin recommended “maintaining this medication appears essential, particularly because you still say you fear losing control.”
“Based on its analysis, the board is of the opinion that you have made measurable and observable progress in the management and understanding of your risk factors. You have reduced your intervention needs and have a better understanding of your crime cycle. You have demonstrated during your escorted leaves that you are able to manage your risk during a gradual return to the community. You take responsibility for the actions you have taken and express regrets that seem sincere,” the board wrote.
“The board is of the opinion that your risk of reoffending during the proposed outings will not be unacceptable for 12-hour outings, during which you will, according to what has been explained in audience, never be left alone.”
Pimparé has also been turned down for parole for decades, including most recently in 2022.