Victims of violent criminal angry he got early day pass from prison

Two victims of a violent criminal say the parole system has failed them and are angry that Antonio Edward Lavoie was granted a day pass from prison to visit a cemetery in Halifax long before he's eligible for parole.

"I think it's ironic that he gets compassion, but I also think it's bull," Nancy Brace said.

In 1990, Lavoie attacked Brace as she was walking along Queen Street in downtown Halifax. He grabbed her by the hair, dragged her up a driveway and punched her in the eyes, causing them to swell shut. He then slammed her head into a stone wall.

"I remember very clearly thinking, 'If you're planning to rape me, you're going to have to kill me,'" Brace said.

5 days in hospital

She started screaming and passersby intervened, chasing off Lavoie and eventually holding him until police arrived.

Brace spent a night in the hospital and several other days at home recovering, and missed his first court appearance.

"For many years, it meant I didn't go outside after dark at all," she said.

"And it meant panic attacks if I heard someone walking up behind me, even in broad daylight. If I heard footsteps behind me I immediately went to fight or flight response."

Even now, Brace said she seldom goes out at night.

Attack on teen girl

Lavoie was granted bail in Brace's case, and while he was out he attacked a 16-year-old girl he knew, kicking her, punching her and stabbing her three times.

For his attack on the girl and on Brace, Lavoie received a total sentence of nine years.

He served two-thirds of that sentence, was released and reoffended, so he was put back in prison.

'One of the worst' murders

Upon his second release from prison, 42-year-old Sharon Ann Hatch was lending tools to Lavoie — who was moving into an apartment across the hall from her — when he attacked her with a hammer. She was struck more than 40 times, and died.

"It was an extremely violent death, it was horrible," her sister Janet Harnum said.

"The police all said it was one of worst. Even the Crown [attorney] who we dealt with at the time said it was one of the worst they had seen."

Lavoie kept Hatch's body concealed in his apartment for days while his three-year-old daughter played in the next room. He eventually dumped Hatch's body in woods off Hammonds Plains Road, just outside of Halifax.

Lavoie would drag the case through the courts before eventually pleading guilty to second-degree murder. He received an automatic life sentence in 2008, with parole ineligibility set at 20 years.

"This was a sudden, unprovoked brutal murder," Chief Justice Joseph Kennedy said in sentencing Lavoie.

"No motive, no rationale, no explanation. Violence for the sake of violence."

Written objections filed

Brace and Harnum have bonded over the violence they suffered at the hands of Lavoie. They weren't expecting to have to deal with him again until 2025, which is when he can start applying for full parole.

But when they recently learned he was asking for a day pass, Brace and Harnum both prepared lengthy victim impact statements and were planning to travel to New Brunswick to argue against his release at a hearing before the Parole Board of Canada.

Two weeks ago, they were informed there would be no hearing. They were told by the board that Lavoie had applied for an escorted leave on compassionate grounds and so his case would be decided by what's described as a "paper hearing."

"So there's not an opportunity for the victim to physically present an impact statement," board spokesperson Nathalie LeBlanc said. "But they could submit that in writing."

The women did file written objections.

1 day of escorted leave

In a decision issued earlier this month, the board decided Lavoie would be granted a one-day escorted leave to visit with family and attend a ceremony at the cemetery where his mother and daughter — who both died recently — are buried.

Last Friday, he was escorted to Halifax by two corrections officials who kept him in sight and earshot at all times. The board felt that despite the fact he is assessed as a moderate risk to reoffend, that risk could be managed for his 7½-hour road trip.

"I'm not callous — I know his daughter has passed away," Harnum said.

"And I'm not totally unmoved by that situation. However, he wanted to visit her gravesite. And the reality is her gravesite is still going to be there in 2025."

'He will kill again'

Neither Harnum nor Brace are convinced Lavoie can be rehabilitated and safely reintegrated into the community. They point to the fact he attacked his 16-year-old victim while he was awaiting trial for the assault on Brace.

"I have no doubt in my mind that he will kill again," Brace said.

Harnum is equally pessimistic.

"Unfortunately, I know what's going to happen, the same thing that happened in 2000 when he got paroled and they said he was low risk and four years later, he killed my sister," she said.

A warning to women

Both women say they will appear at Lavoie's parole hearings to oppose his release. They also say they plan to complain to the federal ombudsman for victims of crime for the way the Parole Board of Canada handled Lavoie's compassionate leave request.

"I want the female population of Halifax ... to be aware that sometime between 2022 and 2025, they're going to have a monster living amongst them," Brace said.