Convicted killer Malcolm Cuff was granted day parole

Malcolm Cuff

How much is a woman’s life worth? Convicted killer Malcolm Cuff was granted day parole.

Malcolm Cuff killed his girlfriend in 1979 and another woman in 1983 on the west coast of Newfoundland. He has been granted day parole despite opposition from police and family members of his victims.

The 66-year-old will spend the next six months at a community-based residential facility — or halfway house — after serving the last 42 years in federal prison.

Cuff, along with accomplice Robert Roland Durnford, killed Marilyn Ann Newman in 1983.

Robert Roland Durnford

Newman, a 20-year-old woman from Corner Brook, was abducted, bound, raped and murdered with a hammer and a screwdriver. Cuff said after he raped Marilyn Ann, he strangled her, and then Durnford brought him a screwdriver and he stabbed her. He said Durnford also brought him a hammer, and he took it, started swinging, and couldn't stop.

In 2000, Cuff confessed to a cold case, admitting he killed 16-year-old Janet Louvelle in 1979.

He's served a life sentence for the murder of Newman and served a 14-year sentence for manslaughter in the killing of Louvelle. (Not even a year for every year of Louvell’s 16-year-old life).

In its decision, the Parole Board of Canada noted the gravity of Cuff's offences but said he has made progress and is considered a low risk.

He won’t be living next door to anyone on the parole board of Canada. He may be living next door to you and me, though.

The board said Cuff has taken full responsibility for the killings, though it took him decades to admit to killing Louvelle, and another decade before he admitted during a parole hearing that the killing was no accident.

Cuff said he killed Louvelle when she decided to end their relationship. He killed Newman, the best friend of his girlfriend, in 1983, when his girlfriend left him.

He also admitted he was the driving force behind Newman's killing, and that he manipulated Durnford into going along with the plan.

The decision does not say what city or province Cuff will live in once he is assigned to a halfway house. However, it does say the police in the area of his release voiced their opposition to the plan.

His co/ killer, Robert Durnford, has died. He, too, was granted full parole. Durnford was convicted of first-degree murder.

The Parole Board wrote: "This victim was obviously the collateral casualty of your distorted thinking and emotional dysregulation."

Let’s just hope Malcolm Cuff does not get rejected by the next woman he picks. I wouldn’t want her to become the collateral casualty of a murderer’s distorted thinking.