GRAVENHURST— Convicted hit man Charles Gagne won’t be heading home for the holidays to the Mississauga area, where he murdered two men 18 years ago.

Gagne, 46, had no comment as Parole Board of Canada member Shannon Stewart told him Tuesday that he would not be granted an unescorted temporary absence pass from the Beaver Creek Penitentiary in Gravenhurst.

Gagne was on an unescorted day pass from a halfway house when he murdered former boxer Eddie Melo, 40, and Melo’s friend Jaoa (Johnny) Pavao, 42, on April 6, 2001.

Stewart said that Gagne’s current proposal for release was too vague to be approved by her and fellow panel member Alison Scott.

The rejected absence plan included a lunch meeting with a man whom Gagne would not publicly identify, saying it might bring the person unwanted media attention.

“We do believe that you need a structured plan for your absence,” Stewart said at the hearing, which was held in the minimum security penitentiary.

The decision was praised by eight members of the Melo family who attended the hearing. Gagne did not have any supporters present.

“I’m absolutely relieved about it,” Melo’s daughter, Jessica Melo, said. “He doesn’t deserve to go home for these holidays or any other holiday.”

Gagne told the parole panel that he is a different man than the one who murdered Melo, a reputed mob enforcer, for $50,000 and underworld status. Pavao was killed because he was a witness, the court heard when Gagne was convicted.

Gagne said he became hardened while running up a lengthy prison record that started at age 18. He has convictions for offences including armed robbery, and wound up in medium-security Collins Bay Penitentiary.

“It was gladiator school,” Gagne told his hearing on Tuesday. “You can’t show weakness or you end up getting hurt in prison … I didn’t care about anybody but myself.”

Gagne said he has changed since he became the father of a daughter, who’s now a teen. He married a woman he met on an online dating site while in custody.

He also admitted that he lied to get released from prison on parole in 2001. Gagne was on a day pass from a halfway house, saying he was visiting an aunt, when he murdered Melo and Pavao.

“I said whatever it took to get out,” Gagne told the hearing. “I lied my head off.”

He said he learned to play the system from seasoned convicts. He also said he was approached to kill someone else for money, but declined the job. He did not identify the intended victim or the person who sought the murder.

“I learned to be a good liar,” Gagne said of his time in prison. “A good manipulator. I learned to used the system … When you’re involved in crime, it’s called playing the game.”

“How do I know you’re not lying now?” Stewart asked.

“You don’t,” Gagne replied.

Melo said it’s extremely tough on her family to attend parole hearings where they argue that Gagne shouldn’t be given parole.

Gagne is already on a work release program that allows him to work in a job in Muskoka, returning to custody each evening.

“Enough is enough,” Melo said. “Stop revictimizing us over and over and over again.”

Melo’s widow didn’t attend the hearing but sent a letter to the parole board, in which she said she’s terrified of the prospect of Gagne returning to the GTA. Rhonda Sullivan said the murder has left her lonely and depressed and robbed her son of fatherly guidance.

“I am unable to move on,” Sullivan wrote. “The memories are vivid and tortuous. I will never have closure. What if this never gets better and lasts forever?”

Sullivan asked that Gagne be ordered to stay away from her family.

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“He knows where I live,” she wrote. “He surveilled Eddie as he planned his demise. It is very, very close to where he wants to reside and carry on with life. This concerns me.

“I cannot walk through the mall and run into this monster. I cannot be shopping at the grocery store and run into this murderer.

“We have lived in this neighbourhood for the last 25 plus years and we should not be scared to death that we will run into the offender in our backyard.”

Melo’s nephew, Sky Melo, was 3 years old when his uncle was murdered. He told the hearing that the murder has caused “tremendous irreversible damage” to his family.

Melo’s brother Joey said it was extremely upsetting to think Gagne could be back in their community. “The offender has no business in Toronto and surrounding areas,” he said. “We live here, all over the city and surrounding areas.”

Gagne was sentenced to life in prison in 2003 with no parole eligibility for 12 years after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree murder.

No one was ever convicted of ordering Melo’s murder.

The Melo family has repeatedly faulted the Crown’s office for not seeking a dangerous offender designation for Gagne, which could have put him off the streets indefinitely.

Gagne admitted at a November 2017 parole hearing that he committed at least 20 armed bank robberies for which he was never caught and that he was active in underworld debt collection.

He told the hearing on Tuesday that he’s suffering too after hearing how much pain he has caused.

“I cry,” he said. “I cry all the time. I can’t stop crying.”

He said he would like to steer youth away from a life of crime.

“It’s not like it’s glamourized in the rap music and everything,” he said. “It’s a hard life.”

Gagne told the hearing he is trying to be a better person and believes he can offer something to the community.

“I just don’t know what my niche is,” he said.