Day parole has been denied for a Saanich man convicted in the deaths of a friend’s mother and grandmother nearly 30 years ago on the lower mainland in a murder-for-hire scheme.
The Parole Board of Canada denied parole to 46-year-old Derik Christopher Lord, who is serving a life sentence for two counts of first-degree murder.
Lord, who was 17 at the time of the murders, and David Muir were Mount Douglas Secondary School students in 1990 when another schoolmate, Darren Huenemann, asked them to be involved in a plan to kill Huenemann’s mother and grandmother.
They were promised part of a $4-million inheritance.
Muir was 16 and Huenemann was 18 at the time of the deaths of 69-year-old Doris Leatherbarrow and her daughter, 47-year-old Sharon Huenemann.
The victims were struck multiple times in the head and stabbed in the throat at Leatherbarrow’s Tsawwassen home.
In its decision, the board says Lord has made progress through Escorted Temporary Absences, Metis cultural practice and recent work releases.
But Lord’s low-to-medium risk assessment rating, lack of victim empathy and “absence of significant accountability” for his crime were factors for the board to determine the “negative concerns outweigh the positive aspects” in his case.
The board added, “a release on day parole would constitute an undue risk to society at this juncture.”
Lord was sentenced in 1992 and has been denied parole on numerous occasions.
With files from The Times Colonist.
CHEK News
