The woman who helped murder Loretta Saunders in Halifax over six years ago is getting temporary passes from prison to take two programs over the next year on healthy relationships and understanding emotions.
The parole board has approved a total of 16 four-hour escorted temporary absences for Victoria Lea Henneberry to take the courses offered by the Elizabeth Fry Society. The Correctional Service of Canada recommended the 35-year-old be allowed to take them.
“They conclude you would not present an undue risk to society while on the passes, noting your minimum-security classification, limited prior criminal history, and psychological assessments of risk,” said the new parole board decision.
“They view the passes as desirable to continue to develop strategies through programming to manage your need areas as part of a very gradual reintegration plan, given that you have completed the available programming within the institution.”
'Six feet under'
Loretta Saunders brother, Edmund, described the courses as an effort to "make sure that she don't put no more people like my sister six feet under."
He's resigned to the idea that Henneberry will get out of prison soon.
"I've tried to make my parents understand this. It don't matter what we think," Edmund Saunders said Thursday.
"I know how the justice system works. I've been around it a long time. If she follows the protocol they put before her, she's going to get whatever she wants."
He believes Henneberry "will be a free woman again" within five or six years.
Believes she will benefit
In her application for the escorted temporary absences, Henneberry said she believes she will benefit from the two community programs. “The first, Healthy Relationships, will explore the skills necessary to develop healthy relationships and to understand boundaries in relationships,” said the parole board decision.
“In the Understanding Emotions course, you will address your identified deficits in managing problematic emotions, the development of self-control, and decision-making skills.”
COVID-19 restrictions
Henneberry would have to travel to the courses in a government vehicle and the first pass will be with a primary worker. Subsequent passes may involve a staff member or trained citizen escort, said the decision. “The programs are not running currently due to the COVID-19 restrictions but approval of the (escorted temporary absences) is being requested to be available once the programs resume.”
Henneberry is serving a life sentence for the second-degree murder of Saunders, a young Inuit student from Labrador, in February 2014. Henneberry and her boyfriend Blake Leggette were subletting a room in Saunders’ Cowie Hill Road apartment when the couple killed the Saint Mary’s University student, who was pregnant, after she came to collect their rent.
“You and your co-accused allowed her to come into the apartment but then your co-accused attacked her from behind, attempting to choke her,” said Henneberry’s parole decision.
“A struggle ensued with you and your co-accused attempting to suffocate the victim by placing plastic bags over her head. Your co-accused banged the victim's head on the floor and she stopped moving. He then wrapped plastic wrap around her head and placed her in a hockey bag.”
The pair put Saunders in the trunk of her own car, and then using her bank card along the way, they drove to Salisbury, N.B., where they dumped her body in a treed area on the median of the Trans-Canada Highway.
“The two of you then drove on to Ontario,” said the parole board decision.
“Your co-accused confessed to his involvement in the murder to an undercover officer in February 2014, after which you were both arrested and returned to Halifax.”
The judge who sentenced Henneberry drew attention to the victim's young age and the fact that she was pregnant at the time of her murder, said the parole board decision. “He stated that the murder was planned and deliberate and that you contributed in the clean-up, the cover-up, and the escape from the area.”
Henneberry’s case management team told the parole board she demonstrates “an unrealistic sense of entitlement at times,” said the decision granting her temporary passes. “You state that you should not be serving a life sentence and should not be incarcerated as there is nothing left for you to learn in prison and you should be released at your earliest eligibility date.”
Henneberry has applied for day parole with a tentative hearing date in February 2021. “Since your hearing in February 2020, there was an incident where you punched a wall in anger following an interpersonal issue with another offender and your (case management team) report you continue to engage in argumentative behaviour. They believe you would benefit from additional insight into your offending as you continue to minimize your actions and when challenged, you apply external blame.”
Henneberry identifies as Indigenous, specifically American Cherokee from her mother's side.
When she applied in February for escorted temporary absences, “a number of victim and community submissions were presented that opposed your claim to Indigenous heritage and your access to related resources and supports.”
