System might have failed murder-suicide victims: Oppal

B.C. Attorney General Wally Oppal says the system might have failed the family found dead in their upscale Oak Bay home early Tuesday, victims of an apparentmultiple-murder-suicide.

Oppal said Crown prosecutors might have erred when they released Victoria restaurateur Peter Kyun Joon Lee on bail on Aug. 15, two weeks after he was charged with assaulting his wife, Yong Sun Park. He allegedly intentionally drove his Land Rover into a pole, leavingPark with a broken arm and contusions.

Prosecutors agreed with Lee's lawyer that he should be allowed out on bail, with conditions that required him to stay away from his wife and the family home at 310 King George Terrace, and forbade him from possessing knives, guns and ammunition.

Only three weeks later, Lee is believed to have stabbed his estranged wife, his son, and her parents with a knife before turningit on himself. All five bodies were found early Tuesday in the Oak Bay house.

Court documents obtained by the CBC also reveal a violent past that some say should have been a red flag to authorities.

Lee was scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 24 to face accusations that he abducted and assaulted a 21-year-old man who insulted him, forcing the young man to crush his own toe with a rock, in 2006. This year, there were multiple domestic assault calls to his home, court documents show.

Oppal said he can't explain yet what exactly went wrong in this case.

"It may well have been the case that the Crown went in there and agreed to the consent to release without all the facts being known.''

Oppal's comments came after the provincial New Democratic Party on Thursday demanded an investigation into the way the courts handled the case.

"While we have an independent judiciary, we need to make sure that all the information is there so that when police are making a recommendation that someone is a danger, that is taken very, very seriously," said Mike Farnworth, theNDP public safety critic.

Oppal said judges are bound by the Criminal Code and can only refuse bail if they believe the accused might not appear for trial or is a serious risk to reoffend.

The provincial government, police and the courts all treat domestic violence as a serious problem, he said.

"We've come a long way, and I can tell you this is a priority for me," Oppal told CBC Radio's The Early Edition Thursday morning.

"I have met with women's groups. I've met with victims groups. We have very aggressive prosecution policies in the Ministry of the Attorney General," he said.

Police have released the names of the four adults andthe six-year-old boy who were found dead early Tuesday. All fivedied ina murder-suicide, a coroner has said.

The dead are Lee, 38; his wife, Park, 32; their son, Christian, 6; and Park's parents, Moon Kyu Park, 66, and Kum Lea Chun, 59, according topolice in Saanich, B.C.