The family and friends of stabbing victim Andy Moffitt have been put on hold - again.
Henry Danninger, convicted in
the December 1998 fatal stabbing of Moffitt in an Ottawa bar, has asked
that his parole hearing be postponed from February 22 until April 19.
The hearing had originally been
set for early December and then was rescheduled until January 14.
Danninger, a Brockville native, has requested all three postponements.
"It is constantly on our
minds," Moffitt's mom Paulette said Monday in expressing her feelings
on the latest delay in the proceedings, which could see Danninger out
of jail just two years into his five-year sentence for the killing.
The family, close friends, an
Ottawa detective and a Victims of Crime representative have all
prepared victim impact statements and are ready to read them, according
to Moffitt.
"They all have their minds set on it yet, every month, they have to go back to their employers (to request time off)," she said.
The delays are hard to take, she added.
"It is the stress of it," said
Moffitt. "Since September, when we heard of the parole hearing, we have
not been able to get on with our lives.
"The worst part is the fear of
him getting out. I don't know how I can face him getting out in less
than two years," said Moffitt.
Danninger was sentenced March 27, 2003. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter before his trial was set to begin.
Moffitt was trying to break up a fight when he was stabbed. He was posthumously awarded the Governor-General's Medal of Bravery.
"Henry Danninger was sentenced
to a mere five years for taking a precious life. He should be made to
put in the five years," said Moffitt.
Moffitt's family is working
with Leeds-Grenville MP Gord Brown and local lawyer Scott Newark to
have a new bill passed to require judges to hand out stricter sentences
to offenders who kill using a knife. Now, there is no minimum sentence
in manslaughter cases where a knife is the weapon.
"Once there is a deterrent, they'll think twice about putting a knife in their pocket," said Moffitt.
"If that bill goes through, no
one else will have to go through what we've gone through, in fact are
still going through. This bill would be in memory of Andy."
Published in Section A, page
3 in the Tuesday, February 1, 2005 edition of the Brockville Recorder & Times. Posted 4:38:00 PM Tuesday, February 1, 2005.
