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KYLA AUNE
Mother who cannibalized daughter spared from prison
Sandra McCulloch CanWest News Service
NANAIMO, B.C. -- A Nanaimo woman slit her two-year-old daughter's throat before cutting up the body, cooking it with other ingredients and eating the soup. Laurina Marie Aune cannibalized her daughter "so Kyla would be with me forever." Details of the Nov. 1, 2002 killing and its aftermath were revealed in B.C. Supreme Court yesterday. Justice James Taylor ruled that while Ms. Aune knew she killed her daughter, she was not criminally responsible by reason of mental disorder -- she didn't know it was morally wrong. Ms. Aune, 26, was remanded to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute in Port Coquitlam, where she will face a disposition hearing within 45 days. She suffers from schizophrenia. This was the first time the public heard details of Ms. Aune cutting up the body. Judge Taylor ruled the information should be made public because people needed to know the reasons behind his decision. "No one who hears of these circumstances can not be affected by them," said Judge Taylor. In delivering his judgment, Judge Taylor said Ms. Aune was asked why she ate her daughter. She responded by saying: "I don't know. I felt compelled to do it. I didn't want to forget her ever." Ms. Aune's lawyer, Tony Bryant, said Ms. Aune's family is having a difficult time with the disturbing incident. "Ms. Aune will struggle for some time, I don't think she'll ever get over it ever." When asked how it was the family didn't pick up earlier signs of Ms. Aune's mental illness, they always explained it as "that's Laurina." Ms. Aune sat impassively through the hearing, wearing a green and cream pant suit. She gave a small wave and smile to supporters as a deputy led her into the court. About a dozen family and friends of Ms. Aune attended the hearing, including Ms. Aune's mother Linda Aune and her former boyfriend, Scott May. It was Mr. May who alerted the Ministry of Child and Family Development that he suspected something was wrong. He had not seen Kyla for six weeks, since taking her out at Halloween. A social worker went to Ms. Aune's apartment in Nanaimo and was told the child was at a babysitter's, but the babysitter told the social worker she had not seen Kyla. The social worker contacted Nanaimo RCMP, who visited Ms. Aune. Police brought Ms. Aune to the RCMP detachment, where a two-hour interview took place. The following day, during an interview with a doctor at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital, Ms. Aune confessed to killing Kyla. Police were notified, and Ms. Aune was taken into custody on Dec. 17. During the trial, court heard Ms. Aune began hearing voices at age 12, after her parents split up. Her illness worsened after her daughter was born. Mr. May told social workers he felt Ms. Aune was unstable. She had once told him the child had three different fathers and they kept changing bodies. According to court documents Ms. Aune was said to have told officers she killed her daughter because she felt manipulated to do so. "I almost felt like I didn't have any control over myself at the time ... I never wanted to hurt her." Ms. Aune told police she and Kyla had just returned from taking her mother to the airport on Nov. 1, 2002 when it happened. "I couldn't help think that she was hurting all the time. I don't really know what I was thinking at that point. I know that I just wanted to be closer to her," she said. She told police she cooked the bones "to have Kyla with me forever." Police said Aune told them she ate a piece of the heart because she felt that's where her child's spirit was. The child's head was found in Ms. Aune's bedroom. © Copyright 2003 The Ottawa Citizen |
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Aune's story stuns police
Paul Walton July 18, 2003
When the murder and cannibalism of Kyla Aune came to light Laurina Aune was relieved, according to her confession to police.
After her arrest on Dec. 16 Aune gave the detailed account to shocked officers, who were not sure if what they were hearing was true. She described how she left some "cooked" parts in her refrigerator.
"Did you say cooked?" a police officer asked.
"Yeah."
"You cooked part of the parts?"
"Yeah, I boiled them."
"Why did you do that?"
"Because I wanted to eat them."
"Why did you want to eat them?"
"To maybe in a way have Kyla with me forever."
Later in the interview Aune was asked how she felt.
"I feel good in a way . . . I don't need to lie about it any more and that feels good . . . because I think that being honest with myself and others would help me . . . I don't know if I want to believe this, but to get the help I need maybe."
In an interview with a forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Leanne Meldrum, Aune said she wanted Kyla not to experience the "pain of everyday life."
She was also under the delusion that people were breaking into her apartment and raping herself and Kyla. She said she wanted to protect Kyla from that abuse and from having sex when she became an adult.
© Copyright 2003 Nanaimo Daily News |
