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B.C. woman dubbed ‘serial killer in waiting’ appealing ban on owning pets

Kayla Bourque is appealing several court-imposed restrictions

A young B.C. woman who's been painted as a serial killer in waiting wants some of the probation restrictions she's under loosened.

Kayla Bourque, originally from Prince George, B.C., spent nine months in custody for killing two of her pets and making threats against people.

She was released in January on three years probation under a strict set of 46 conditions conditions that include being banned from using computers or cellphones with Internet access, from possessing duct tape and from concealing her past from anyone she befriends.

Bourque, who's described as a psychopathic narcissist, was also ordered to undergo treatment, but a psychologist who saw her testified during sentencing that she expressed no remorse for her actions and that she might need lifetime supervision.

[ Related: Killer in waiting: How should society deal with Kayla Bourque? ]

But her lawyer has gone to the B.C. Court of Appeal to argue that short leash the 23-year-old former criminology student is on, including a 12-hour curfew and a ban on taking post-secondary education, is making it harder to rehabilitate her.

“How does Ms. Bourque advance?" Andrew Bonfield asked the three-judge panel Wednesday, according to the Vancouver Province. "How does she show any progress? How can you gauge rehabilitation if your life is so limited?”

"We want her to be involved in mental health," Bonfield later told CBC News. "We want her to be involved in lots of other things so that she can hopefully not end up with any problems in her future."

Bonfield also asked the court to consider cutting back Bourque's lifetime ban on owning pets — she tortured her family's cat to death and shot video of herself disembowelling and hanging the family dog.

"There have been cases where people have been banned from owning animals for up to 25 years and I have asked the court to look at those for an appropriate limitation," he said.

But Crown prosecutor Mike Brundrett said the strict limits on Bourque's freedom are necessary to protect the public.

While a student at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., Bourque revealed to a classmate she was fascinated by serial killers and wanted to learn how to get away with murder. She confessed to killing the family pets and confided that she fantasized about killing homeless people.

When she was arrested in March of last year, police searched her dorm room and found a "kill kit" containing a knife, razor blade, syringe, mask, garbage bags and plastic handcuffs, like some apprentice Dexter.

[ Related: Animal killer Kayla Bourque released to live in Vancouver ]

She was convicted last November of causing unnecessary pain, suffering or injury to animals, wilfully and without lawful excuse killing animals, and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

“She has a desire to kill people as soon as an opportunity presents itself," Brundrett told the Appeal Court, according to the Province. "She’s unapologetic about that and she’s not remorseful about that.”

No matter what decision the court renders next month, Bourque's future seems grim. The Prince George family that adopted her as an infant from a Romanian orphanage has disowned her. And on her release from jail last winter, the B.C. Corrections Branch issued a rare warning that she was moving to Vancouver and was a danger to the public.