Kruse Wellwood and Cameron Moffat, the two teens who viciously murdered Kimberly Proctor, will serve a life sentence, the most satisfactory outcome possible within the Canadian judicial system.
Monday’s court hearing closed a chapter on one of the most disturbing youth crimes in this province and certainly in Greater Victoria.
For the Proctor family, it will never really be over due to parole hearings. As Kimberly’s father Fred pointed out in his court statement, the nightmare will never end.
The teens will rot behind bars, possibly for the rest of their lives, but for anyone who sat through the sentencing hearings or read the agreed statement of facts, it’s easy to feel in this case, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Unlike in the U.K. or U.S., for instance, there are no provisions for a judge to lock someone up and throw away the key.
The boys themselves (see page A3) lived delinquent lives of skipping school and eventually being expelled, abusing drugs and alcohol, and lashing out a family and classmates with violent impulsive outbursts. About a year before committing murder, Wellwood was identified as being able to “put on a mask” and fake civility.
The Sooke School District has fairly extensive programs in middle and high school levels to help teens with behavioural and learning issues, but even this pair was too belligerent to keep in the classroom.
The murder of Kimberly Proctor is the extreme, but the young killers serve as a reminder to educators, parents and police that kids delving into violent and self-destructive behaviour need close adult monitoring and intervention.
With Wellwood and Moffat locked away, there is some relief for Proctor’s family and for the community. Society can only hope that authorities will identify and intervene with angry and emotionally disturbed youths before they spiral out of control. If not, future families will pay the price.