A 30-year-old man serving a life sentence has been granted a short leave from prison so he can get his photo taken to update his Indian Status Card.
Christopher James Watcheston was convicted of first-degree murder of Arcelie Laoagan in 2010 after the woman was stalked, raped and killed near a northeast Calgary CTrain station in January 2008.
Watcheston was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
In a Parole Board of Canada decision obtained by Global News, Watcheston’s application for an escorted temporary absence (ETA) from prison was granted Sept. 28, 2016.
The request was made to allow Watcheston to go to a store to get a passport photo taken so he could renew his Indian Status card.
The Parole Board decision considers a number of factors, including Watcheston’s previous criminal history, his behaviour while in prison and potential factors leading up to the crime(s) for which he was most recently convicted of.
In its decision, the Parole Board alluded to Watcheston’s suspected involvement in an assault while in prison, however, it also stated there was no information to substantiate that claim.
The decision also suggests negative childhood experiences may have contributed to Watcheston’s entire criminal history as well as his substance abuse. It also gives him credit for participating in programs to address the risk factors which led him to commit the crimes that he did.
That being said, the Parole Board of Canada “finds (Watcheston) clearly capable of extreme violence” and as such, plans to use restraint equipment while Watcheston is out of prison accompanied by correctional officers. They anticipate the ETA will take one hour for Watcheston to get his photo taken.
The Parole Board said Watcheston has “been assessed as presenting a moderate risk for future offending” but determined ETAs like this one “contribute to your overall integration to the community.” The decision also says Watcheston’s prior criminal history proves he “had a history of difficulty complying with the expectations of release.”
Watcheston said he was high when the 2008 crime against Laoagan occurred. He said he had smoked the legal hallucinatory drug salvia just before he got on the CTrain.
Surveillance video from around 10 p.m. on Jan. 17, 2008 shows Watcheston and Laoagan boarding the CTrain along 8 Avenue downtown, and both getting off the train at the Franklin LRT stop. Video also shows Watcheston following Laoagan up the escalator just before they left the northeast station.
In court, Watcheston said he then followed Laoagan along a pathway near the train station because at the time he believed Laoagan was his dead mother.
He said he ordered Laoagan to take off her pants and sexually assaulted her.
The court also heard tapes of phone calls Laoagan made to a friend at 11:01 p.m., saying she was being raped. In a second call made at 11:09 p.m., she is heard only mumbling.
During the trial, Watcheston testified when he heard Laoagan on the phone, he thought she was calling police. Watcheston said he decided to kick Laoagan in the head a number of times so she would get a concussion and not remember what had happened. Watcheston was wearing steel-toed boots when he kicked her.
Laoagan sustained blunt cranial trauma, a fractured upper jaw, a broken nose and a number of cuts and bruises to her body.
Global News has contacted Corrections Canada to ask whether it is standard protocol for prisoners to obtain ETAs for passport photos rather than have a photographer come in to the facility. Global News has also asked for further clarification regarding why a prisoner would need a current Indian Status Card while serving a life sentence.
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