Investigation ordered into parolee accused of killing woman in Quebec City

Quebec's justice minister is concerned about the facts surrounding the death of a woman allegedly killed by Eustachio Gallese who is serving a life sentence for murder. SOURCE La Presse

OTTAWA — The federal government says it will investigate the facts surrounding a slaying at a hotel in Quebec City in which a convicted killer who was out on parole has been charged.

Fifty-one-year-old Eustachio Gallese was charged on Thursday with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Marylene Levesque the previous day.

In 2006, Gallese was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 15 years after he killed his 32-year-old partner, Chantale Deschenes, by beating her with a hammer before repeatedly stabbing her.

The parole board in 2007 concluded Gallese posed a "high risk" of committing violence against a partner. But the board had since revised its evaluation to "moderate," and by 2016, had allowed him out of prison on supervised outings. The board released him to a halfway house in March.

Public Safety Minister Bill Blair told the House of Commons on Monday that a full investigation will be conducted jointly by the Commissioner of Corrections Services and the chair of the Parole Board of Canada to determine the circumstances surrounding Gallese's release and ensure lessons are learned from it.

Last week, Quebec's justice minister called on federal officials to provide answers.

According to the Quebec City newspaper Le Soleil, Levesque had been working out of an erotic massage parlour. But Gallese had reportedly been banned from the building because he had been violent with other women, so the two met at a hotel in the city's Ste-Foy district.

Blair noted the Parole Board makes its decisions independently, adding that "public safety is and must be the main consideration in all parole decisions."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan 27, 2020.