Ottawa - A one-time sex cult leader who threatened to kill his Ottawa parole officer was sentenced to three years in prison Monday.
Kenneth McMurray, 38, admitted he violated a long-term supervision order when he said to a staff member at an Ottawa halfway house, “I want to kill that bitch,” in reference to his parole officer.
The incident occurred six weeks after he was transferred here in July 2009 from a halfway house in Kingston, where he had threatened another resident.
McMurray was declared a long-term offender in March 2000 after being convicted in a Guelph court of five counts of sexual assault with five male teenaged victims.
At the time, court heard McMurray coerced the boys into joining a group that met regularly in the basement of his parents' home in nearby Erin, Ont., over a two-year period beginning in 1997.
The boys participated in various religious rituals and were forced to have sex with each other and McMurray. He was sentenced to four years in prison less time served and placed on parole for a further five years.
However, his long-term supervision order has since been extended after repeated breaches of his conditions, including a 2004 robbery that saw him sentenced to an additional three years and 10 months in prison.
According to an agreed statement of facts, McMurray told the staff member he knew he was making a threat toward the parole officer and made further comments involving the same theme of wanting to cause the parole officer harm.
McMurray was described as being visibly agitated to the point where his lips trembled and his hands shook, according to the agreed statement of facts.
An apologetic McMurray later told police that his anger was directed more at Corrections Canada and not toward the parole officer, adding he wouldn't harm her in any way.
McMurray's lawyer, Kate Hulbig, said outside of court that McMurray was at the Ottawa halfway house because it was the only one that would take him after a history of problems at other community correctional facilities.
Ontario Court Justice Hugh Fraser sentenced McMurray to three years in prison less 250 days of time served, leaving him two years and 115 days of his sentence left to serve.
