Board denies VandenElsen parole again

10:20 AM 2/28/2007




Board denies VandenElsen parole again
Woman convicted in standoff improving but still deemed a risk
By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Truro Bureau

TRURO — Carline VandenElsen has done so well in prison she’s on early release at a Halifax halfway house but she hasn’t done well enough to get full parole.

"The risk is not manageable — application denied," Pat O’Brien of the National Parole Board said during a hearing at Nova Institution for Women on Tuesday.

Ms. VandenElsen has been a prisoner at the institution since her conviction in June 2005 on charges from a highly publicized three-day standoff with Halifax police in 2004.

The standoff began when police officers attempted to carry out a child apprehension order for her five-month-old daughter. Ms. VandenElsen’s husband, Larry Finck, was also sentenced to prison for his part in what has been called a bizarre and tragic situation.

After holding police at bay for three days, the couple left the home carrying Mr. Finck’s dead mother on an improvised stretcher, a shotgun and the baby.

Ms. VandenElsen was convicted of careless use of a shotgun, using a shotgun while committing an indictable offence and threatening to use a shotgun in committing an assault on police.

They were both convicted of abducting the baby in contravention of a child custody order, obstructing a police officer, possessing an unregistered shotgun and possessing a shotgun dangerous to the public peace.

Mr. Finck is being held at the Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B., and is scheduled for release in March.

Ms. VandenElsen struggled to hold back tears when she heard the news Tuesday morning.

Corrections staff had recommended the 43-year-old gain full parole.

"She never picked up one charge here and never gave us any indication she was a risk," said her caseworker, Rod MacDonald.

"But she does have a difficult time trusting authority figures."

The caseworker said Ms. VandenElsen seemed to have a lot of sympathetic supporters and she planned to eventually live in the Annapolis Valley with a couple who have taken up her cause.

For the past month, she has been on what’s called a 60-day unescorted temporary absence, living at a halfway house in Halifax and volunteering at local churches. When she walked into the institution Tuesday morning, inmates hollered out to her, offering her good luck on her application.

Ms. VandenElsen was composed, well-spoken and agreeable during the hearing.

However, when a member of the board asked what she would do differently if she could go back to the time of the standoff, Ms. VandenElsen was unable to single out any one thing.

"It was the most harrowing, horrifying and traumatic experience in my life," she said of the event.

"Had I known this would transpire, I wouldn’t have had a baby," she said.

Mr. O’Brien told Ms. VandenElsen she is one of a kind.

"I’ve never seen a standoff with such drama — you’re unique," he said.

"I know what happens to children in foster care — I didn’t want a child of mine in foster care," she responded.

"I had a baby. I wanted to keep it and it was just a miserable, tragic situation all around," she said.

Asked what she wanted to do in the future, Ms. VandenElsen said she wanted to get on with her life.

"Just collect all these little bits and pieces of my life — I would like to reunite with my family — it’s a very primal feeling."

In delivering the board’s decision, Mr. O’Brien said members were not convinced Ms. VandenElsen understands what she did wrong.

"We never got the sense that at a fundamental level you think you ever did anything wrong."

( mmacintyre@herald.ca)