Max
2004-06-17 18:48:31 UTC
'Dark secret' led to Holly's murder
10-year-old sexually assaulted, killed within an hour of abduction
MARLENE HABIB
CANADIAN PRESS
Michael Briere, 36,
has admitted to
abducting, killing
and dismembering
10-year-old
Holly Jones in 2003.
Michael Briere was a software programmer with no previous criminal
record when he watched child pornography one chilly evening in May
2003 - and that very night, snatched a 10-year-old girl from the
street, sexually assaulted, strangled and dismembered her.
Briere, who pleaded guilty today to first-degree murder in the death
of Holly Jones, wept as he apologized for acting out on what was
described in court as his âdark secretâ â his fantasy to have sex with
a young girl.
âA man who commits this type of crime â you put him away, you put him
away for good,â a tearful Briere told Ontario Superior Court as Hollyâs
mother, Maria Jones, sat nearby, sobbing at times.
âI have failed as a human being.â
In shocking detail, the sequence of events were read out to the
court - a crime that was spurred by Briere's viewing of child
pornography on the Internet on the night of May 12, 2003.
Aroused after seeing the images and unable to control himself, he went
onto the street in the west-end neighbourhood known as the Junction,
saw Holly on a street corner as she walked home from a friend's house,
grabbed her by the neck and took her through a laneway to his
apartment.
Inside, the 36-year-old Montreal native sexually assaulted her,
strangled and dismembered her - all in about an hour.
The horrifying revelations prompted a plaintive plea from senior Crown
attorney Paul Culver outside the courtroom.
"Mr. Briere, whatever else motivated him, was spurred on by images of
child pornography downloaded from the Internet," Culver said.
"If this isn't a case that brings home to society, to government, to
legislatures and to those involved in the prosecution and resolution
of child pornography cases that this cancer on our society must be
stopped and stamped out, then I can't think of one."
Holly's mother, Maria Jones, was so distraught she could only speak
briefly after Briere's appearance - but she held out hope that her
youngest child might not have died in vain if Canada's
child-pornography laws are strengthened as a result of her murder.
"I know Holly will make a difference," Jones said.
The family's lawyer, Tim Danson, called on Ottawa to toughen its
kiddie porn laws as he read from a statement written by Jones.
"While some argue that child pornography is constitutionally protected
free speech, Parliament must tighten up its child pornography
legislation by giving full constitutional weight to children's
equality and privacy rights by adopting zero-tolerance for child
pornography," he said.
"Canada must take the lead with the international community to wipe
out child pornography on the Internet and in Canada."
Briere's dramatic admissions stunned the courtroom, where family
members, police officers, spectators and reporters alike were in tears
at times.
His statement of facts told how he disposed of Holly's body parts over
three days, including dumping two bags with her torso, head and arms
into Lake Ontario, and put her legs into his garbage for curbside
pickup. The bags were found a day after her abduction; her legs have
never been recovered.
"I fully recognize and acknowledge that the crime which I am guilty of
is simply the worst kind of crime a person can commit," Briere said.
"I fully recognize the pain which I have caused. I realize that I must
be punished for this terrible wrong I have done, I also realize that
society wants to be protected from me and my behaviour."
Justice David Watt had harsh words in response to Briere's apology.
"Your crime profoundly shocked this community and city and it is a
community that is no longer easily shocked by crimes of violence," he
said. "A random abduction on a quiet city street, a sexual assault, a
murder, dismemberment, a young active life, like others full of
promise, snuffed out."
He added: "There seems no bottom in the depravity pool nor any limits
to the vulnerability of our children."
Briere will receive an automatic life sentence with no chance of
parole for 25 years.
He waived his right to a preliminary hearing last month to spare the
girl's family the pain of hearing weeks of evidence in the case, his
lawyer said.
Briere was escorted in handcuffs under heightened security to the
downtown courthouse, clean-shaven with his black hair tied in a
ponytail and wearing an olive-green suit.
His presence in court came after a year of only appearing via
video-teleconference. His image was flashed on TV screens from the
Toronto jail where he's been in protective custody since his arrest
June 20, 2003.
Briere's arrest followed an intense yet tragically short search by
police and neighbours for Holly, the youngest of four children of
Jones and George Stonehouse.
The girl was abducted on a rainy evening on May 12, 2003, and her
dismembered remains found early the next day. Police later speculated
the girl was dead before her parents even realized she was missing.
Holly's disappearance triggered an emotional plea from her parents for
her safe return. An Amber Alert was also issued.
A month after her remains were found, Briere was charged with
first-degree murder in the death of the girl, remembered by friends as
someone who "touched people's hearts" and had a laugh that was "funny
and crazy, just like her mom's."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The collapse of society's moral foundations has left the
greater part of humankind floundering without reference points in a
world that grows daily more threatening and unpredictable. To suggest
that the process has nearly reached its end would be merely to raise
false hopes. One may appreciate that intense political efforts are
being made, that impressive scientific advances continue or that
economic conditions improve for a portion of humankind - all without
seeing in such developments anything resembling hope of a secure life
for oneself, or more importantly, for one's children. The sense of
disillusionment which, as Shoghi Effendi warned, the spread of
political corruption would create in the minds of the mass of
humankind is now widespread. Outbreaks of lawlessness have become
pandemic in both urban and rural life in many lands. The failure of
social controls, the effort to justify the most extreme forms of
aberrant behaviour as primarily civil rights issues, and an almost
universal celebration in the arts and media of degeneracy and
violence - these and similar anifestations of a condition approaching
moral anarchy suggest a future that paralyzes the imagination. Against
the background of this desolate landscape the intellectual vogue of
the age, seeking to make a virtue out of grim necessity, has adopted
for itself the appellation and mission of "deconstructionism"."
âCentury of Light
http://bahai-library.com/published.uhj/century.light/
10-year-old sexually assaulted, killed within an hour of abduction
MARLENE HABIB
CANADIAN PRESS
Michael Briere, 36,
has admitted to
abducting, killing
and dismembering
10-year-old
Holly Jones in 2003.
Michael Briere was a software programmer with no previous criminal
record when he watched child pornography one chilly evening in May
2003 - and that very night, snatched a 10-year-old girl from the
street, sexually assaulted, strangled and dismembered her.
Briere, who pleaded guilty today to first-degree murder in the death
of Holly Jones, wept as he apologized for acting out on what was
described in court as his âdark secretâ â his fantasy to have sex with
a young girl.
âA man who commits this type of crime â you put him away, you put him
away for good,â a tearful Briere told Ontario Superior Court as Hollyâs
mother, Maria Jones, sat nearby, sobbing at times.
âI have failed as a human being.â
In shocking detail, the sequence of events were read out to the
court - a crime that was spurred by Briere's viewing of child
pornography on the Internet on the night of May 12, 2003.
Aroused after seeing the images and unable to control himself, he went
onto the street in the west-end neighbourhood known as the Junction,
saw Holly on a street corner as she walked home from a friend's house,
grabbed her by the neck and took her through a laneway to his
apartment.
Inside, the 36-year-old Montreal native sexually assaulted her,
strangled and dismembered her - all in about an hour.
The horrifying revelations prompted a plaintive plea from senior Crown
attorney Paul Culver outside the courtroom.
"Mr. Briere, whatever else motivated him, was spurred on by images of
child pornography downloaded from the Internet," Culver said.
"If this isn't a case that brings home to society, to government, to
legislatures and to those involved in the prosecution and resolution
of child pornography cases that this cancer on our society must be
stopped and stamped out, then I can't think of one."
Holly's mother, Maria Jones, was so distraught she could only speak
briefly after Briere's appearance - but she held out hope that her
youngest child might not have died in vain if Canada's
child-pornography laws are strengthened as a result of her murder.
"I know Holly will make a difference," Jones said.
The family's lawyer, Tim Danson, called on Ottawa to toughen its
kiddie porn laws as he read from a statement written by Jones.
"While some argue that child pornography is constitutionally protected
free speech, Parliament must tighten up its child pornography
legislation by giving full constitutional weight to children's
equality and privacy rights by adopting zero-tolerance for child
pornography," he said.
"Canada must take the lead with the international community to wipe
out child pornography on the Internet and in Canada."
Briere's dramatic admissions stunned the courtroom, where family
members, police officers, spectators and reporters alike were in tears
at times.
His statement of facts told how he disposed of Holly's body parts over
three days, including dumping two bags with her torso, head and arms
into Lake Ontario, and put her legs into his garbage for curbside
pickup. The bags were found a day after her abduction; her legs have
never been recovered.
"I fully recognize and acknowledge that the crime which I am guilty of
is simply the worst kind of crime a person can commit," Briere said.
"I fully recognize the pain which I have caused. I realize that I must
be punished for this terrible wrong I have done, I also realize that
society wants to be protected from me and my behaviour."
Justice David Watt had harsh words in response to Briere's apology.
"Your crime profoundly shocked this community and city and it is a
community that is no longer easily shocked by crimes of violence," he
said. "A random abduction on a quiet city street, a sexual assault, a
murder, dismemberment, a young active life, like others full of
promise, snuffed out."
He added: "There seems no bottom in the depravity pool nor any limits
to the vulnerability of our children."
Briere will receive an automatic life sentence with no chance of
parole for 25 years.
He waived his right to a preliminary hearing last month to spare the
girl's family the pain of hearing weeks of evidence in the case, his
lawyer said.
Briere was escorted in handcuffs under heightened security to the
downtown courthouse, clean-shaven with his black hair tied in a
ponytail and wearing an olive-green suit.
His presence in court came after a year of only appearing via
video-teleconference. His image was flashed on TV screens from the
Toronto jail where he's been in protective custody since his arrest
June 20, 2003.
Briere's arrest followed an intense yet tragically short search by
police and neighbours for Holly, the youngest of four children of
Jones and George Stonehouse.
The girl was abducted on a rainy evening on May 12, 2003, and her
dismembered remains found early the next day. Police later speculated
the girl was dead before her parents even realized she was missing.
Holly's disappearance triggered an emotional plea from her parents for
her safe return. An Amber Alert was also issued.
A month after her remains were found, Briere was charged with
first-degree murder in the death of the girl, remembered by friends as
someone who "touched people's hearts" and had a laugh that was "funny
and crazy, just like her mom's."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The collapse of society's moral foundations has left the
greater part of humankind floundering without reference points in a
world that grows daily more threatening and unpredictable. To suggest
that the process has nearly reached its end would be merely to raise
false hopes. One may appreciate that intense political efforts are
being made, that impressive scientific advances continue or that
economic conditions improve for a portion of humankind - all without
seeing in such developments anything resembling hope of a secure life
for oneself, or more importantly, for one's children. The sense of
disillusionment which, as Shoghi Effendi warned, the spread of
political corruption would create in the minds of the mass of
humankind is now widespread. Outbreaks of lawlessness have become
pandemic in both urban and rural life in many lands. The failure of
social controls, the effort to justify the most extreme forms of
aberrant behaviour as primarily civil rights issues, and an almost
universal celebration in the arts and media of degeneracy and
violence - these and similar anifestations of a condition approaching
moral anarchy suggest a future that paralyzes the imagination. Against
the background of this desolate landscape the intellectual vogue of
the age, seeking to make a virtue out of grim necessity, has adopted
for itself the appellation and mission of "deconstructionism"."
âCentury of Light
http://bahai-library.com/published.uhj/century.light/