Bourque to serve 75 years before parole eligibility for RCMP killings

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MONCTON, NB (NEWS1130) – Justin Bourque has been sentenced to serve 75 years in prison before becoming eligible to apply for parole for the June 4 shooting rampage that killed three RCMP officers and wounded two others in Moncton.

Judge David Smith of the Court of Queen’s Bench in New Brunswick delivered his precedent-setting ruling today after a sentencing hearing earlier this week during which Bourque apologized to the families of the Mounties he shot. Smith called the shootings one of the worst crimes in Canadian history.

Bourque was sentenced to five concurrent life sentences, with no possibility of parole for 75 years. He will be 99 when that day comes.

It’s the harshest sentence in Canada since the last executions in 1962.

Bourque pleaded guilty in August to three counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder.

The 24-year-old was facing a mandatory life sentence, so the only issue for Smith to decide was when he could apply for parole.

The Crown sought the maximum sentence of 75 years under a section of the Criminal Code that was amended in 2011. The defence argued for parole eligibility to be set at 50 years.

Assistant commissioner Roger Brown, the commanding officer of the RCMP in New Brunswick, says he doesn’t know if there will ever be a point when the emotional scars from the shooting will fully heal.

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