Dwayne Archie Johnston, the man who killed Helen Betty Osborne 26 years ago, is out on parole.
Grabbed by four men on the street, Osborne, a 19-year-old Native girl, was stabbed 56 times with a screwdriver in The Pas, Manitoba.
The identity of the white suspects was well known in town but covered up for many years. It took 16 years before Johnston was charged and convicted on the testimony of another man who was granted immunity for his testimony.
Another man, James Houghton, was acquitted of first-degree murder and a fourth man was never charged.
Johnston served only 10 years of a life term sentence. The parole panel voted 2-1 for full parole. The dissenting member said Johnston’s life is still unsettled by a custody battle over one of his children and he still doesn’t understand the violent tendencies in his behaviour.
The panel did agree he poses little risk of committing another crime.
