Penny Boudreau granted more passes from prison 16 years after killing daughter

A Nova Scotia woman who murdered her young daughterhas been granted more escorted timeoutside of prison.

PennyBoudreauis serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the death of her 12-year-old daughter, Karissa, in January 2008.

In a hearing earlier this month, the Parole Board of Canada approved23 escorted temporary absencesfor Boudreau.

Eighteen of those absences will beto participate in church-related activities for a maximum offour hours each.

Four seven-hourabsences have been granted for Boudreau to spend time with family.

The final absencewill allow Boudreauto visit a halfway house where she may live if she's released from prison.

As part of her guilty plea in 2009, Boudreau was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years before being eligible for parole.

Boudreau told police girl ran away

Boudreau choked her daughter to death, butclaimed to police thatthe girl ran away after the two argued outside aBridgewater grocery store.

The child's body was discovered two weeks later on the banks of the LaHave River.

Boudreau has been granted escorted temporary passes in the past, but the parole board noted she hasn't been able to take advantage of all of them because of safety concerns related to negative media attention.

"The callousness of the crime is not lost on the board, and requires the board to exercise caution when making a decision regarding conditional release," the board noted in its decision.

A psychological risk assessment done two years ago found Boudreauwasa low risk to reoffend.

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