A man convicted of killing his son in a horrific case of child abuse will be allowed to temporarily leave prison while supervised to perform community service, which he said was part of an effort to atone for his crime.
Edward (Tony) Dooley has been granted a series of escorted absences over the course of six months from the Beaver Creek Institution, a minimum- and medium-security facility in Gravenhurst, Ont., where he is currently serving a life sentence.
In a hearing before two members of the Parole Board of Canada on Wednesday, Dooley said that while nothing can erase the harm he has caused, he sees the community work as a way to “give back something.”
“I know I’ve been described as a monster and I won’t quarrel with the description,” he said, noting that he has worked hard since his conviction to become “a better human.”
The 51-year-old was denied full parole last year, in part because he had never participated in escorted absences, which allow authorities to see how inmates behave outside prison. If released on full parole, Dooley — who is a Jamaican citizen — would be subject to a deportation order.
The board heard Dooley has been a model inmate since arriving at Beaver Creek from a maximum security facility two years ago and is considered a low risk for violent recidivism. He also obtained a high school diploma while behind bars.
Dooley, along with his wife, was convicted of second-degree murder in 2002 in the death of his son, seven-year-old Randal Dooley.
Randal was born in Jamaica and came to Canada with his brother to live with his father and stepmother in Toronto in November 1997, 11 months before his death.
He had wasted to just 41 pounds and had 13 fractured ribs, a lacerated liver, four brain injuries, and head-to-toe bruises when he died in 1998.
At the couple’s trial, it was found that Marcia Dooley had struck the fatal blow to Randal and had inflicted the vast majority of the prior abuse. She was given a life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 18 years.
Tony Dooley, meanwhile, was characterized by the judge as a “coward” for “ignoring Randal’s plight as Marcia’s whipping boy.” He received a life term with no parole for at least 13 years.
Dooley maintained Wednesday that he never saw his wife do anything worse than slap the boy, but said he should have stepped in nonetheless.
He said he only began to acknowledge his role about seven or eight years ago.
“My sons are very important to me and I have failed all of them miserably,” he said. Despite this, Dooley said he maintains a close relationship with his oldest son, who witnessed Randal’s abuse and is now in his late 20s.
Dooley, who admitted during trial to belting Randal on the buttocks, also said he no longer considers corporal punishment a valid form of discipline.
“I was ill-prepared and ill-equipped as a parent to deal with the situation,” he said. Sharing his experience could help other parents who are struggling to handle their children, he said.
“What I really want is to get a do-over but that can’t happen,” Dooley said, adding all he can do is “not repeat the mistakes of the past.”
The couple’s three-month trial made headlines across Canada as the gruesome details of Randal’s brief life came to light.
Court heard that months of abuse had left the little boy incontinent and unable to keep down food before his death. Jurors also heard that Marcia Dooley broke Randal’s arm and even forced him to eat his vomit because she didn’t want food going to waste.
Randal’s teacher noticed dozens of welts on his back at some point, which led the school to notify police and child welfare authorities, though no charges were laid at that time.
After Randal’s death in September 1998, his father and stepmother told police that the boy had tumbled from an upper bunk bed and struck his head on the floor.
The couple appealed their conviction, but their bid for a new trial was dismissed in 2009.
In 2015, Marcia Dooley was denied escorted temporary absences from prison after the parole board found her still reluctant to accept full responsibility for her crime.
:marah That wicked b*tch Marcia. Demon possessed dawg vomit she be. The judge is right, Tony is a coward. He should have gotten 1 life sentence for being a coward and a second life sentence for child abuse and a third life sentence for murder and a 4th life sentence for being born with absolutely no chances of being paroled. Dem shoulda fling him Marcia and Paul Bernardo inna wah prison cell in the middle of the Sahara Dessert with no food and water til dem dead.
Canada too soft bout bout give back something….Give Randall back him life dutty Tony!!!! A dat yuh fi do….I am sorry for the day they unleash Marcia pon Jamaicans…cause that witch cannot be rehabilitated. I will never forget this little boy. RIP Randall.
Reading this mi blood run cold dutty evil moddaphuckas
And dirty useless CAS ( Children’s Aid Society) is to be blamed as well. They failed him time and time again. Who dem fi protect they don’t and who don’t need protection is who dem come fah. You know say I am so mad that I am currently preparing a letter to send to the ministry and to the parole board. I may even start a change.org petition. People memory shawt….the amount of tears I shed for this little baby. :marah RIP Randall
That’s why people need fi stop send whe dem Pickney, anything dem a foreign have fi gi dem mek dem baxide send it.
Wicked them wicked I could never do any child that I have my stepdaughter from she two and love her like my own tell u if she don’t see me is like she going mad and won’t stop calling my phone until I answer her and she 18 so it depend on the love a person carry she is my first although she is from another mother and no one can’t tell her am not her mother she will cuss u
GI him full parole mek him go home, dutty dawg I was at the funeral, dem rush him rass and lick out him nastiness smaddy finger get eena nim mouth and him bite dem, a police gp rescue him wicked wife lik the kid wid the pan a ackee all teeth the kid swallow like dem mek him drink him vomit, big pussy Dooley smaddy a wonder if a f**k him f**k him way out fi get pass, everytime mi pass the church mi memba
Swallowed teeth? Oh gosh man… :berduka
Oh my God….evil monsters….society don’t want nothing from you…death . That’s how you can give back to us. You monsters.
this just truly broke my heart they shouldn’t be eligible for anything they should rot in prison the two of them. if you felt you were ill equipped you should of left them in Jamaica people act like Jamaica is such a terrible place. how can you break a small child arm willfully like serious the woman sounds like a sociopath model prison he should have been a model father and take care of his child coward indeed.
These are monsters! Remind me of another case with a teen who went missing after migrating and her remains were eventually found in a suitcase. They do not deserve any form of parole. It should have been life without chance of parole. Imagine an 8 year old weighing 41 lbs?! Imagine the trauma of leaving Jamaica for a better life to be badly beaten and nobody to rescue you…tears