Kennedy killer refused parole

PAROLE board members have refused to free Robert F Kennedy’s convicted assassin after ruling that he had not shown enough remorse and did not understand the severity of a crime that was mourned by a nation four decades ago.

Sirhan, a Palestinian Christian from Jordan who is now 66, spoke at length and expressed sorrow, but said he did not remember shooting Kennedy or five other victims on June 5, 1968, in the crowded kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where Kennedy stood moments after claiming victory in the California presidential primary.

“Every day of my life, I have great remorse and deep regret,” he told a panel of two parole board commissioners at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.

The panel chairman and the deputy commissioner told Sirhan he must seek further self-help courses, come to terms with the shooting and show evidence of his improvement by his next parole hearing, which will be in five years.

Sirhan’s attorney, William Pepper, has said he believed a second gunman shot Kennedy. He has also suggested Sirhan was brainwashed.