Convicted Killer Brian MacLeod Seeking Full Parole

The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of crime (www.crcvc.ca) is an outstanding organization. In addition to their ongoing support in my family's fight to keep Ralph Power locked up for life, they've also introduced me to some wonderful people. One such person is Leila Koral. Leila lost her sister Eva Koral because of a violent murderer by the name of Brian MacLeod. But this killer didn't get a life sentence because he wasn't charged with 1st degree murder. Instead he was convicted of 2nd degree murder and as of this Thursday, he could be released on full parole. But Parole Board of Canada, please say that won't happen...

Parole Board of Canada, please listen to what Leila is saying. Just because this was a case of extreme domestic violence doesn't excuse Brian MacLeod or his actions. And just because it was domestic violence making a 1st degree murder charge almost unheard of, there is no justice if he is a free man after only 14 years behind bars.

Just to get a sense of why I'm so outraged and saddened all at once, here's an excerpt of what Brian MacLeod did to Eva Koral - copied from a recent Toronto Sun column by Mark Bonokoski. Read it and ask yourself if this is the kind of person you want roaming the streets of your neighbourhood. Leila also voiced her concerns re the potential full release of MacLeod in a recent TV interview on CityNews....

"MacLeod -- a massive man at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds -- had returned to an Etobicoke bar on the West Mall called Papa Bear's where Eva Koral had remained following an argument.

He slammed her head into the bar, grabbed her by the hair, punched her four times in the head, hauled her out to his awaiting tow truck, smashed her head into the driver's side, and then tossed her inside -- with no one in the tavern raising a finger to stop the assault, and no one even having the guts to make a simple 911 call.

For Brian MacLeod, it was nothing more than being true to form, his history of violent behaviour toward women making up a good chunk of his criminal record.

Eva Koral, a pretty Bell Canada switchboard operator, was found the next day. A clump of her hair had been ripped from her scalp as she was dragged across the roadway, her left thumb had been severed, and her skull had been fragmented from blunt-force trauma.

She had been beaten to death with a J-hook and tow-truck chains."

Leila, I'll be thinking of you and your family as you face your sister's killer this Thursday. My heart goes out to you all...and I pray that the parole board thinks long and hard on this case.