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Wiccan woman who killed pregnant Inuit student granted temporary unescorted absences
The Parole Board of Canada has granted unescorted temporary absences for the “personal development” and rehabilitation of a woman who helped kill a pregnant Inuit student from Labrador a dozen years ago in Halifax and dumped her body beside a highway in a hockey bag.
Victoria Lea Henneberry is serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Loretta Saunders in February 2014. In a decision released Wednesday, the parole board approved two 72-hour unescorted temporary absences (UTAs), so Henneberry, 40, can visit a halfway house.
“Your case management team believes it is desirable for you to participate in the proposed UTA so that you can focus on a gradual release to the community while allowing your risk factors to be closely monitored,” said the June 2 decision.
“This UTA allows a structured and supervised opportunity to assess your behaviour, decision-making and ability to comply with conditions in a community setting.”
Henneberry was in a minimum-security prison in Ontario last year. The parole decision out of Kingston, Ont., doesn’t indicate where she is imprisoned now, or where the halfway house is located that she’s planning to visit.
A spokeswoman for the parole board said Wednesday she could not divulge those locations because of inmate privacy.
The parole board granted Henneberry 30 days of unescorted leave in the fall of 2024 to take “personal development” courses at a halfway house.
But that was “prematurely cancelled days prior to its completion due to numerous violations of rules,” and Henneberry’s “emotional instability (self-reporting of suicidal ideation),” said the decision.
Henneberry and her boyfriend, Blake Leggette, were subletting a room in Saunders’ Halifax apartment when the couple killed the Saint Mary’s University student after she came to collect their rent that they didn’t have.
Saunders was 26 and pregnant when she died. Leggette attacked her from behind on Feb. 13, 2014, when she entered the apartment.
“Once inside the apartment, your boyfriend choked the victim and tried to suffocate her with plastic bags,” said the decision.
“The victim’s head was then hit against the floor twice.”
The pair put Saunders’ body in a hockey bag. They left the apartment to return a computer to a store for the money. When they returned, Leggette carried the hockey bag to the victim’s own car and put it in the trunk.
The couple left, using the victim’s bank card to buy food and other items.
They drove from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, “where the victim’s body was then dumped, in the hockey bag, at the side of a highway, and continued to drive to Ontario,” said the decision.
They were later arrested in Ontario.
Henneberry “confessed to the murder the following day,” said the decision. “Video evidence showed that you and your boyfriend talked about killing the victim five days prior to the actual murder.”
Henneberry’s latest psychological risk assessment indicates she was diagnosed with a personality disorder (borderline personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder), “with a suggestion of feigning psychological symptoms and negative impression management,” said the decision.
“Based on actuarial measures, the psychologist reported that you are currently a low-moderate risk for both general and violent recidivism.”
Henneberry hasn’t “demonstrated violent or aggressive behaviour or attitudes,” in the last three years, said the decision, and “there is no indication” she’s involved in the “institutional drug subculture.”
Henneberry, who the board has said practises the Wiccan religion, was born in Halifax, but mostly raised in Ontario.
The Correctional Service of Canada recommended she get the passes as part of her “gradual reintegration into society,” said the decision.
The parole board determined that Henneberry had “presented a structured plan that will both allow” her to complete her goals “and do so without additional risk to society.”
While she’s out of prison, Henneberry must “immediately report all sexual and nonsexual relationships and friendships” with men to her parole supervisor.
She’s also ordered to stay away from mobile phones and any device that can access the internet, and she must avoid contact with Saunders’ relatives.
“There are victims who have experienced trauma as a result of your criminal activity. As any contact with you will have negative impacts on them, you are not to have either direct or indirect contact with the victims or members of their families.”
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