Penny Boudreau receives further prison release 16 years after her daughter's murder

A Nova Scotia woman who murdered her young daughter has been granted extended time out of prison under supervision.

Penny Boudreau is serving a life sentence for the premeditated murder of her 12-year-old daughter, Karissa, in January 2008.

In a hearing earlier this month, the Parole Board of Canada approved 23 supervised temporary releases for Boudreau.

Eighteen of these absences are for participation in church activities of a maximum of four hours each.

Boudreau has been granted four seven-hour leave sessions to spend time with his family.

The final absence allows Boudreau to visit a halfway house where she may live when she is released from prison.

As part of her guilty plea in 2009, Boudreau was sentenced to serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.

Boudreau told police the girl ran away

Boudreau strangled her daughter to death, but told police the girl ran away after the two argued outside a grocery store in Bridgewater.

The child's body was discovered two weeks later on the banks of the LaHave River.

Boudreau has been granted temporary accompanied residency permits in the past, but the parole board found that she could not use all of them due to safety concerns resulting from negative media coverage.

“The Committee recognizes the cruelty of this crime and requires it to exercise caution in deciding whether to grant conditional release,” the committee said in its decision.

A psychological risk assessment conducted two years ago found that Boudreau was at low risk of reoffending.

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