A Halifax woman convicted in the murder of Loretta Saunders has been granted a 30-day, unescorted absence from prison to help her prepare for the potential end of her time in custody.
Victoria Lea Henneberry, 39, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in April 2015 and was given an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years.
With that date fast approaching, the Parole Board of Canada has granted Henneberry a 30-day pass so she can live in a halfway house, attend programs and do volunteer work.
While it granted her the absence, the board voiced concerns about Henneberry.
“The board gives significant aggravating weight to the precalculated and violent nature of [the offence] and to the callous disregard for the victim and the victim’s family after the victim was brutally murdered,” the panel wrote in its decision.
Convicted along with boyfriend
Henneberry was convicted along with her then boyfriend, Blake Leggette, just as their trial was about to get underway. Leggette pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, which carried an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Saunders, an Inuk woman from Labrador, was killed Feb. 13, 2014, after going to the apartment she was subletting to Henneberry and Leggette and trying to collect rent.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Leggette attacked Saunders and killed her. Henneberry and Leggette then fled in Saunders’s car, stopping in New Brunswick to dump her body along the side of a highway. The couple continued on to Ontario, where police caught up to them.
At the time of her death, Loretta Saunders was studying at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and writing a thesis on missing and murdered Indigenous women. (Facebook)
In a hearing on Sept. 25, the parole board ruled that Henneberry is to stay in a community-based residential facility and attend one-on-one courses during her 30-day absence.
The list of topics available through the residential facility include grief and loss, stress management, employment readiness, trauma support and relationships. In her downtime, Henneberry plans to volunteer at a food bank and attend a fitness centre.
In its decision to grant the absence, the board noted Henneberry has successfully completed much shorter absences from prison to attend programs. She was approved for more external programs, but she was unable to participate because of restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Controversy over previous absence
In February 2020, Henneberry was granted a five-hour pass to attend a session with the Healing of Seven Generations, an Ontario-based program available to Indigenous offenders. Henneberry has identified as American Cherokee on her mother’s side, although the parole board said in a decision she was not raised in the culture and had no knowledge of her history.
Henneberry was banned from accessing the program after the Saunders family protested her participation.
As recently as August of this year, the Saunders family submitted a victim impact statement to the board, talking about the trauma Loretta’s death still causes for them.
In its decision, the board cautioned that Henneberry still has a lot of work to do to prepare for possible parole.
“The board remains seriously concerned about your low level of insight and limited responsibility for the [offence],” it wrote.
“Although you have completed required and voluntary interventions to mitigate your risk, you remain assessed at a low-moderate risk level, and it is essential that you complete further treatment and programming to mitigate your risk of reoffending.”
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