The man who killed Toronto police Const. Todd Baylis has been denied parole for the third time in seven years.
Clinton Gayle shot and killed 25-year-old Baylis in the summer of 1994 while he was on patrol in North York. Another officer, Const. Mike Leone, was also seriously injured.
Gayle, who was under a deportation order at the time of his arrest, was convicted of first-degree murder and attempted murder in the shooting and is now serving two concurrent life sentences at a B.C. prison.
In their decision, the Parole Board of Canada said protection of society is paramount and they are still struggling to understand Gayle’s motivation behind his crime.
“We as a board assessing your risk to reoffend have to understand what was truly your motivation to commit that crime and we are not satisfied you have sufficient insight as to why you used extreme violence,” said the board.
Thursday was his third parole hearing in seven years, something Baylis’ brother said needs to change.
Cory Baylis is asking the federal government to make changes to Canada’s parole system including extending the timeline to five years between hearings, rather than the current 18 months.
He shared with CityNews the emotional toll the process takes on families is insurmountable.
“It’s always in the back of your mind you know it’s coming and then when it comes, ugh, and you go through it again and again and again,” said Cory.
Cory and Leone, submitted victim impact statements for the hearing Thursday.
“In 32 years, he has never reached out to us to express any kind of remorse … Please understand that the impact of this on us is debilitating. The anguish, despair and pain this has caused us is immeasurable. The insult to my brother is profound,” read Cory’s statement.
Both Cory and Leone mentioned in their statements about what Gayle said to his victims during his 2019 bail hearing, “I am sorry someone had to die that night, but I had to spend 25 years in jail”.
“After reflecting on what he had done for a quarter of a century – 25 years of reflection, this is all that Mr. Gayle could come up with – he’s the victim – he’s sorry he had to put a bullet through the head of Police Constable Todd Baylis and attempted to murder me, but this pales in comparison to him spending 25 years in jail,” said Leone.
Leone also noted in his statement that they had asked to delay the parole hearing due to short notice, but the decision to delay was in the hands of Gayle and he refused.
“To be forced to ask for a favour from the person who executed Todd and tried to murder me was profoundly humiliating, degrading, insulting and an affront to our dignity,” said Leone.
“In this sense, our request for an adjournment was a gift to Mr. Gayle to give him the opportunity to show insight, ownership, responsibility and remorse. It was an easy opportunity for Mr. Gayle to do the right thing even if insincere. But he just could not do that.”
“Mr. Gayle is a pathological and serial liar and a manipulator. Being a witness to his lies and manipulation from hearing to hearing before different panels of this Board without being meaningfully called out, has had an enormous impact on us,” stated Cory.
Todd’s mother Sharon also contributed a victim impact statement Thursday, stating she would never forgive Gayle.
“To this day and for the rest of my life my heart will never heal, and I will never be able to forgive you, Clinton Gayle, for doing this to him, to my family, or to me. You are a menace to society, to all people, to all those around you. You bring nothing but destruction and despair to all those you come in contact with,” she stated.
“Whether or not you give Clinton Gayle his freedom today, you, and everyone else listening to or viewing this, will return to their normal lives, the night of June 16 relegated to the back of your mind … My family and I and Mike, on the other hand, will never be free from his actions, will never be free of the hell Mr. Gayle put us in. We are truly the ones who received a life sentence,” concluded Cory’s statement.
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