A number of victim impact statements made for an emotional day at a parole hearing for Rory Foreman, who was convicted of killing Joan Heimbecker on March 30, 1994.
The Kitchener man is seeking early parole under the ‘faint hope clause' after serving more than 15 years of his life sentence. It's only the fourth such application in Hamilton's history.
Foreman was reportedly trying to win his ex-girlfriend back after a break-up, and shot her four times in her dorm room at McMaster University with a sawed-off shotgun after she rejected his advances. It took police two weeks to find him.
Victim impact statements were read in Hamilton Superior Court Monday, all calling for the convicted killer to serve his full sentence.
Heimbecker's sister Donna is the only surviving member of the family. She lost her mother to a car crash in 1997 and her father to a heart attack in 2002.
She told the court "I can still remember hearing the news, alone at my residence two provinces away. The feeling that the bottom of your stomach has just fallen out. Knowing that somewhere outside, there were two police cars watching the building to keep me safe through the night. That feeling of fear has never left me."
She asked the jury to "Let my parents rest in peace knowing that he is held responsible for his violent and selfish acts."
Nicola Hodges, Heimbecker's roommate at the time and a witness to the murder also spoke about the trauma that night has caused her.
"Joan used to sign all of her birthday and Christmas cards, ‘your friend always…' And I would do the same. I don't do that anymore."
Lawyers are expected to make final submissions Tuesday, with the jury set to begin deliberations on Wednesday.
