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Anna-Lisa Repele has been without her daughter for the last 13 years.
“I’m missing something,” she said. “I have a hole in my heart. It hasn’t healed and I don’t think it ever will.”
In January 2006, 17-year-old Brigitte Serre was brutally murdered at the gas station she worked at in St-Leonard.
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Her killer, Sébastien Simon, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
Recently, Serre’s family found out that Simon could be released from prison sooner than expected.
Next month, the parole board will hear his request for escorted temporary visits.
“Now they want to give him a second chance,” said Bruno Serre, Brigitte’s father.
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“He didn’t give Brigitte a chance. Never.”
Serre’s family can’t even fathom the idea that their daughter’s killer will have the chance to walk the streets again.
They say they’ll do whatever it takes to keep that from happening.
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“I’m saying, what can I do? I mean, I need to stop this — I need to try to prevent this,” Repele said. “So I said, let me try a petition. I did that when Tommy Gagné tried.”
Tommy Gagné, an accomplice in Serre’s killing, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was also sentenced to life in prison.
His parole eligibility was set at 10 years. When he applied for early release in 2014, Serre’s family was outraged.
He was found dead in his prison cell a few months later.
“She was five foot one, five feet two inches, and he stabbed her 72 times,” said Brigitte’s stepmother, Darlene Ryan. “She was beaten to a pulp.”
There were so many injuries that at the trial, Ryan recalls, the coroner was unable to identify which one caused her death.
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Many of Serre’s family members have submitted victim impact statements to the parole board.
They also plan on sending in a petition, that to date has collected over 2,000 signatures.
The board says it’s unclear if the petition will have any impact on its decision.
“I owe it, as a mother. I want to try and do what I can because what else can you do?” Repele said. “You can’t bring her back.
“Do I want to hurt him? No. I just want him to pay his dues.”
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