By Canadian Press

MPs get few details from top parole officials on Quebec woman’s murder

Mar 10, 2020 | 9:58 AM

OTTAWA — MPs seeking to understand the circumstances surrounding the murder of a 22-year-old Quebec woman were left with few firm answers as a committee began hearing from witnesses today.

The country’s top parole and correctional officials were grilled by MPs on the public safety committee about the death of Marylene Levesque’s murder at the hands of Eustachio Gallese.

Gallese was on day parole when he killed the young woman, a sex worker, in a hotel room on Jan. 22.

He’d met Levesque after getting permission from a parole officer the previous spring to visit “erotic massage establishments” — a controversial condition that was revoked by the Parole Board of Canada in September.

Gallese pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in Levesque’s killing in late February.

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Parole officials told MPs today that the internal investigation into Levesque’s death, as well as another probe by Quebec City police, remain ongoing and they couldn’t answer specifically on the case.

Correctional Service of Canada Commissioner Anne Kelly assured the committee she’d never heard of a similar condition being granted in her 37 years of service.

But she couldn’t say what led one of her employees to grant that permission to Gallese, who was serving a sentence for second-degree murder in the killing of his ex-spouse in 2004.

Kelly said the officer concerned is not supervising any offenders pending the conclusions of the various investigations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 10, 2020.

The Canadian Press