A northeastern New Brunswick man who killed two teenagers and left another for dead near Miramichi in the late 1980s has been granted full parole.
Kenneth Esson, 58, of Neguac, was serving a life sentence for first- and second-degree murder, attempted murder and sexual assault committed in 1986.
The Parole Board of Canada granted Esson full parole in a Jan. 5 decision provided to CBC News on Monday.
The decision said “the board finds that you have reached the stage of your life sentence where allowing you to move to full parole would not place the public at undue risk because of your reoffending.”
Esson has been on one-day parole since 2018, except for a brief time when it was revoked in 2020. The board denied him full parole that year.
The callousness and brutality of the crimes cannot be adequately expressed in words. – Decision of the Parole Board of Canada
“Although your…crimes were clearly horrific, you have made significant progress over an extended period of time.”
Esson was convicted in 1987 after pleading guilty to the murders of a 13-year-old and a 19-year-old and the attempted murder of a 14-year-old. His parole eligibility was set at 25 years.
“The callousness and brutality of the crimes cannot be adequately expressed in words,” the parole board said in its decision.
The crimes began in August 1986 after an argument with his wife. The parole board’s decision states that he ran away from home and used drugs and alcohol.
While in his vehicle, he noticed two teenage girls riding bicycles on a dirt road in Lower Newcastle. He grabbed a knife and followed them.
He stabbed the two girls repeatedly and raped the 14-year-old, who survived. She was found the next morning by family members who had spent the night searching for the two girls.
Six weeks later, Esson contacted an ex-girlfriend and an argument ensued. After suffocating the 19-year-old, he drove her into a gravel pit and pushed her out of the vehicle, and she hit her head on a rock. Then he killed her.
Esson fled the countryside but returned and was later arrested.
The pain remains for the victims, the families
The judgment said the victim impact statements described the “shock, trauma, pain, loss, anger and grief” suffered by the surviving victim and the victims’ families.
A recent statement from a victim’s family member “makes it clear that time has not lessened the harm you have caused.”
He was ordered not to use, buy or possess alcohol or drugs other than prescribed medication. He was also ordered not to be in the presence of females under the age of 18 unless accompanied by an adult familiar with his criminal history.
He must also report sexual and nonsexual relationships or friendships with anyone who has parental responsibility for female children, and report changes in relationship or friendship status to his parole officer.
“To manage the risk of re-offending, your access to young females must be strictly controlled and monitored,” the decision states.
Esson was prohibited from having contact with the surviving victim or any members of the victims’ families.
He was also ordered not to move to mainland British Columbia. The CBC previously reported that Esson lived at a halfway house in Victoria while on day parole.
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