By Canadian Press

Nova Scotia justice minister concerned over sex predator’s release to U.S.

Jan 24, 2019 | 9:45 AM

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia’s justice minister is expressing concern over a Parole Board of Canada decision to release a notorious convicted killer and sexual predator back to the United States.

Mark Furey said Thursday he will write a letter to his federal counterpart, David Lametti, about the release of William Shrubsall, who was declared a dangerous offender in 2001 following violent sexual assaults against women in Halifax.

The chief Crown attorney for Halifax, Paul Carver, has questioned the logic of the parole board’s decision, while a former lead police investigator in the case, Tom Martin, called it “borderline negligence.”

“We have to look at the circumstances,” said Furey. “This individual was determined to be a dangerous offender and dangerous offenders typically aren’t released from custody.”

The minister said Shrubsall’s crimes were horrendous and he knows from his past experience as an RCMP officer that “victims are retraumatized by these very circumstances.”

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Furey said while his note might not have any effect, he believes its important Ottawa know where Nova Scotia stands on the issue.

“The majority of these offences took place in Nova Scotia and it’s important that we speak to the circumstances as best we can,” he said. “While we realize we have no authority, at the same time it’s important to express the opinions and views that we are seeing and hearing.”

Shrubsall fractured the skull of one of his victims with a baseball bat during his spree of violence in Nova Scotia during the late 1990s. His record also includes bludgeoning his mother to death with a baseball bat in their New York State home the night before his graduation, a crime committed while he was a juvenile.

The 47-year-old Shrubsall was returned this week to authorities in Upstate New York, where he will serve a sentence for sexual abuse, but could be eligible for parole in two years and four months for that offence.

Furey said although he routinely writes to federal cabinet ministers on behalf of the province, it’s the first time he’s written about a parole board decision.

The board’s ruling was based in part on the belief Shrubsall would “face many more years” of incarceration in Niagara County — where he jumped bail during his trial for sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl in 1996.

But in an interview with The Canadian Press this week, Niagara County District Attorney Caroline Wojtaszek also questioned that logic, adding there are limits on her ability to incarcerate Shrubsall, who has adopted the name Ethan Simon Templar MacLeod.

Wojtaszek said the parole board’s move had essentially made Shrubsall “our problem.”

The Parole Board of Canada has declined specific comment about the case, but a spokeswoman said the protection of society is a “paramount consideration” in its decisions.

Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press