The widow of a murdered Windsor police officer isn’t happy the man convicted of killing her husband has been transferred to a medium security facility.
Shelley Atkinson says she is fighting his removal from a maximum security penitentiary in Kingston.
“It’s re-opening of the wound,” says Atkinson. “It’s a slap in the face.”
Nikkolas Brennan was dealt a maximum sentence for murdering her husband, Const. John Atkinson, on May 5, 2006. The 37-year-old police officer was shot in the face outside a Mac’s Milk near Pillette Road and Seminole Street.
His widow was very upset when she found out about the transfer earlier this month.
“Disbelief, shock, angry,” she says.
Atkinson says when Brennan was sentenced in November 2007, she never thought her family would have to deal with this so soon. Brennan has served 5 and ½ years of his 25-year sentence.
"Nikkolas Brennan was sentenced to 25 years, which we call life,” says Atkinson. “We are living a life sentence every day."
She says the reason for the transfer is because there are some programs that aren’t available at Kingston Penitentiary, so Brennan has been transferred to Warkworth Institution near Peterborough.
Windsor police and Atkinson have sent a letter to federal Public Safety Minister Vic Toews. They are asking him to intervene in the recent transfer and have Brennan returned to serve his mandatory life sentence in a maximum security facility.
“Nikkolas Brennan didn't show remorse at the time of the murder, “ says Windsor Chief Al Frederick. “I don't know what his behaviour has been like in prison. But a life sentence is 25 years and we expect the federal government to respect that."
Frederick says it is a disgrace.
"Our entire community has been victimized. Our organization will never be the same," says Frederick.
