Article about Power Waiving Parole - Toronto Sun
FAMILY'S 'HUGE SIGH OF RELIEF'; CONVICTED KILLER WAIVES PAROLE
The Toronto Sun
Thu 12 Jan 2006
Page: 11
Section: News
Byline: BY ALAN CAIRNS, TORONTO SUN
The sister of a Toronto model brutally murdered 25 years ago is relieved her sister's imprisoned sex killer has abandoned his parole hearing for another two years.
Ralph Power, 52, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in the hammer slaying of model Sheryl Gardner in her Isabella St. apartment.
Power ogled and stalked many young women before he singled out and tracked Gardner, 20, to her unit on July 2, 1981.
After posing as a telephone repairman to gain Gardner's confidence and get inside her apartment, he hit her in the head with a hammer during a struggle.
Afraid of being caught, Power rationalized that he had to bludgeon her to death with the hammer because if he let her survive she would just be "a vegetable" anyway.
Already eligible for day parole, Power would have been able to seek full parole release in June. But he recently waived his full parole hearing until May 2008.
The move comes after Gardner's younger sister Carolyn raised a public outcry about his potential release.
The National Parole Board gave no reasons for Power's move.
"We as a family feel huge relief ... at least for now," Carolyn Gardner said yesterday.
But the family also knows a showdown is inevitable with the man they believe is an incurable psychopath. Gardner says the family intends to fight Power's release until "we think he is not a threat to public safety."
When he murdered Gardner, Power was months out of prison and still under parole supervision after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for almost killing a woman after pouring gas through a letter slot and setting it ablaze.
Trial evidence showed Power received his thrills from ogling sunbathers and women in the St. Jamestown area through the lens of a 1,000-mm telescope mounted on a tripod in his penthouse unit.
At the time of the murder, he kept a detailed inventory of 15 area women he was stalking.
Just before murdering Gardner, Power followed her to her apartment and later traced her telephone number.
He bluffed his way into her unit by masquerading as a telephone repairman, decked out with a belt and tool kit, test phone, hard hat and a hammer.
Six days after he killed Gardner, Power tried the same tactic on another woman. He hit her in the head with the hammer three times, but she was able to grab the hammer and hit him back. He was stunned and she escaped.
Carolyn Gardner lamented that details about Power's rehabilitation are shielded from the family because of privacy laws.
"I often think if we we knew Power was truly trying to change, truly responding to treatment or medication, then maybe we would feel less fear at his potential release," she said.
"But only knowing what we know keeps our pain and our fear very real."
The Toronto Sun
Thu 12 Jan 2006
Page: 11
Section: News
Byline: BY ALAN CAIRNS, TORONTO SUN
The sister of a Toronto model brutally murdered 25 years ago is relieved her sister's imprisoned sex killer has abandoned his parole hearing for another two years.
Ralph Power, 52, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in the hammer slaying of model Sheryl Gardner in her Isabella St. apartment.
Power ogled and stalked many young women before he singled out and tracked Gardner, 20, to her unit on July 2, 1981.
After posing as a telephone repairman to gain Gardner's confidence and get inside her apartment, he hit her in the head with a hammer during a struggle.
Afraid of being caught, Power rationalized that he had to bludgeon her to death with the hammer because if he let her survive she would just be "a vegetable" anyway.
Already eligible for day parole, Power would have been able to seek full parole release in June. But he recently waived his full parole hearing until May 2008.
The move comes after Gardner's younger sister Carolyn raised a public outcry about his potential release.
The National Parole Board gave no reasons for Power's move.
"We as a family feel huge relief ... at least for now," Carolyn Gardner said yesterday.
But the family also knows a showdown is inevitable with the man they believe is an incurable psychopath. Gardner says the family intends to fight Power's release until "we think he is not a threat to public safety."
When he murdered Gardner, Power was months out of prison and still under parole supervision after serving eight years of a 10-year sentence for almost killing a woman after pouring gas through a letter slot and setting it ablaze.
Trial evidence showed Power received his thrills from ogling sunbathers and women in the St. Jamestown area through the lens of a 1,000-mm telescope mounted on a tripod in his penthouse unit.
At the time of the murder, he kept a detailed inventory of 15 area women he was stalking.
Just before murdering Gardner, Power followed her to her apartment and later traced her telephone number.
He bluffed his way into her unit by masquerading as a telephone repairman, decked out with a belt and tool kit, test phone, hard hat and a hammer.
Six days after he killed Gardner, Power tried the same tactic on another woman. He hit her in the head with the hammer three times, but she was able to grab the hammer and hit him back. He was stunned and she escaped.
Carolyn Gardner lamented that details about Power's rehabilitation are shielded from the family because of privacy laws.
"I often think if we we knew Power was truly trying to change, truly responding to treatment or medication, then maybe we would feel less fear at his potential release," she said.
"But only knowing what we know keeps our pain and our fear very real."
posted by Carolyn Gardner at 10:31 a.m. 
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