Would-be killer released from prison
Benjamin Darren Nason, 48, shot and wounded Beth Wallace with a high-powered rifle at her Fredericton home in January 2013
Despite being deemed a risk to commit further violence, Benjamin Darren Nason walked out of prison this week after serving time for trying to kill a Fredericton woman 10 years ago.
Nason, 48, formerly of Beaver Dam, was convicted after trial in late 2013 of attempted murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime.
Court heard he showed up drunk at the Lincoln Heights home of Beth Wallace in the early-morning hours of Jan. 29, 2013, with a high-powered rifle.
After he assaulted her in the house, she eventually managed to flee out the front door, running toward a neighbour’s home.
Nason pointed the rifle at her as she ran and pulled the trigger twice. The first shot narrowly missed her, whizzing just above her head.
The second shot struck her in the upper left arm, striking bone and exploding, as she collapsed in front of another house in the subdivision. As neighbours rushed to her aid, Nason fled in a van.
He was arrested later at his parents’ home in Beaver Dam.
The Parole Board of Canada denied his applications for parole on three previous occasions - April 2018; October 2019 and June 2021 - but it issued a new decision this week.
Nason has reached the point in his sentence at which he’s eligible for statutory release, a standard release date mandated by legislation for offenders who have served a significant portion of their sentence in prison.
The parole board’s latest decision, dated Tuesday, was to impose conditions Nason must follow in the community until the expiry of his full sentence. Any violation could result in him being returned to prison.
The parole board emphasized that Nason remains a moderate to high risk to reoffend, specifically noting that he has a propensity for violence toward women in a domestic or spousal situation.
Violent reaction to rejection
Wallace had hired Nason to build her a new home, but they also were in an occasional “friends with benefits” relationship.
At trial, the jury heard Wallace wasn’t interested in a traditional romantic relationship with him, and she’d started dating other men around that time.
Earlier in January 2013, the home Nason had been constructing for Wallace was destroyed in a fire that was Nason’s fault. He claimed he accidentally started the blaze while drunk at the site, but Wallace believed it was done on purpose because she didn’t want to be his girlfriend.
While in a drunken stupour and upset at the perceived rejection, Nason forced his way into Wallace’s home in the wee hours of the morning Jan. 29, 2013, brandishing the rifle. He threatened her and said, “If I can't have you, no one will,” and he struck her in the chest with the butt of the rifle.
That’s when she managed to get out of the house and when he shot her.
Wallace almost died, and her left arm barely clung to her torso.
Doctors were able to save the limb, but she’s never regained use of it. Wallace has undergone multiple surgeries in efforts to restore it to some degree over the years, but with little success.
The Fredericton Independent contacted Wallace for comment, but she wasn't ready to speak about Nason's release this week.
“It is merely luck and chance that allowed the victim to survive your clear intention of killing her, and the board already has noted earlier in this decision the significant traumas, both physical and psychological, that have plagued the victim over the past decade,” the July 4 parole board decision states.
It also notes that Nason has been far from a model inmate.
“Although you have completed institutional programming, you continue to involve yourself in institutional incidents, nine of which have occurred since the board's last decision in June 2021 to deny parole,” it states.
“You have expressed defiant behaviour towards Correctional Service Canada (CSC) staff and have refused to engage or compromise when you are told ‘no’ or not given your own way. There have been instances where you made concerning statements against CSC staff,
referencing to a former parole officer by stating you ‘wanted to hold their feet to the fire.’”
It said Nason has also been suspected of participating in prison contraband activities, such as selling tobacco inside the institution.
“It is alarming that, despite your successful completion of correctional programming during this sentence, you are unwilling to use program-related tools and skills to make appropriate decisions on any consistent basis,” the parole board said.
“You have instead focused upon holding grudges against case management staff whom you perceive to have not treated you fairly, and you continue to demonstrate defiant behaviours by disregarding institutional rules that you find inconvenient or which you do not like.”
Risk to harm other women
Various assessments conducted in prison indicate he’s a moderate to high risk of harming a woman if he were to embark on another relationship.
“There is indication that your violent acts within intimate relationships can escalate quickly,” the parole board stated.
“The spousal assault risk assessment indicates that your imminent risk for violence towards a partner is rated as high. A psychological risk assessment from 2016 concluded that you are at least in the moderate risk range for reoffending in a violent manner to include spousal assault and family violence.”
The board ruled that a residency requirement was necessary to address the ongoing risk of violence that Nason poses to the community. As such, it’s requiring him to reside at a halfway house as approved by Correctional Service Canada until the completion of his full sentence.
The decision is silent on where that residential facility is located. However, among the conditions of his statutory release is that he can’t be within 75 kilometres of the centre of Fredericton.
However, Nason has stated he wasn’t on board with the residency requirement and the prohibition from being in the Fredericton area.
“You have requested permission to visit children, grandchildren and businesses that are around Fredericton, although not directly within the city itself,” the decision states.
“You also express your opposition to a residency condition, as it will impede on your plans to work and build a home in your preferred release destination.”
He will also be required to report into the halfway house every night, with no permissions for overnight absences. That’s because the parole board feels there’s a good chance Nason could violate his conditions if he were granted permission to be away from the halfway house.
“You have made limited progress while incarcerated, and you demonstrate a self-centred attitude of following your own mind, regardless of rules or guidance from others,” it said.
“The board believes that your attitude and behaviours while incarcerated are suggestive that you may not follow rules/restrictions that would be applied to leave privileges.”
It said the many conditions were designed with the victim’s protection in mind, adding it had also looked at barring Nason from living in New Brunswick altogether.
“The board had considered greater restrictions, such as not being permitted within the same province; however, it must balance its noted concerns with the fact that you have resided in an open, minimum-security institution within the same province for many years and, during that period, you have not attempted to initiate contact with the victim,” the decision states.
“Nevertheless, the board reminds you that any breach of this geographic restriction on your part, or any attempt to do so, should be viewed by CSC supervising authorities with the greatest concern.”
Among the other conditions to which Nason will be subject while on statutory release are refraining from possessing or consuming alcohol and non-prescribed drugs, following the treatment plan set up by his parole supervisor, having no contact with Wallace and her family members, and reporting all sexual and non-sexual relationships with women to his supervisor, as well as an attempts to initiate such relationship.
“You pose, at the very least, a moderate risk for future partner violence,” the decision states.
“The board therefore believes that every aspect of your friendships and relationships with females must be scrutinized, to ensure that they are healthy, stable, and free of influences that might reasonably lead to issues of jealousy or violence.”
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
9 incidents in the past two years and still gets released?!? This man is a public menace and his release re-victimizes the person he tried to kill.
What a perversion of justice!