Canada frees triple child killer

Homolka said she did not initiate the crimes

A Canadian convicted of the rape and killing of three teenage girls, among them her younger sister, has been freed after serving 12 years in jail.

Karla Homolka was given a relatively light sentence for manslaughter and rape after agreeing to testify against her ex-husband. He is serving life.

The 35-year-old was secretly taken to a television studio after her release.

In her first interview, she told a French-language TV station she posed no danger and did not want to be hounded.

She was released from the maximum-security prison in Sainte-Anne-des-Plaines, about 30km (20 miles) north-west of Montreal, on Monday.

I don't want people to think I am dangerous and I'm going to do something to their children Karla Homolka

Homolka, a former veterinarian's assistant from southern Ontario, had appealed to a judge to ban the media from reporting on her life outside prison after receiving death threats. Her attempt was unsuccessful.

But she decided to give an interview to the RDI network immediately after her release, after consulting her lawyer.

"I don't want to be hunted down," she told the network. "I don't want people to think I am dangerous and I'm going to do something to their children."

She often cried and often felt she did not deserve to be happy, she said.

Movements restricted

Homolka, who learnt French while in prison, added that she planned to live in the mainly French-speaking province of Quebec.

When I gave them the word that she'd been released, there was just stunned, painful silence Tim Danson Lawyer for victims' families

She said people knew less about her crimes there and that she had a "support network" in the province.

Heavy restrictions have been placed on her movements and activities, but her lawyers say she plans to appeal against them.

Tim Danson, a lawyer for the families of two of her victims, Ontario teenagers Kristen French and Leslie Mahaffy, told AP news agency his clients were shocked that she was free.

"When I gave them the word that she'd been released, there was just stunned, painful silence," he said.

'Battered wife'

Homolka's ex-husband, Paul Bernardo, is serving life in an Ontario prison for two counts of first-degree murder.

Homolka is notorious in Canada for her role in the killings of Kirsten French and Leslie Mahaffy. Her part in the 1990 rape and murder of her 15-year-old sister Tammy was also taken into account in sentencing.

At her 1993 trial she portrayed herself as a battered wife who took part in the crimes to protect herself and her family from Bernardo.

But later evidence appeared to show she had been complicit in the killings, leading to public criticism of the deal made by prosecutors in exchange for her testimony against Bernardo.