A judge has ordered one of Canada's most notorious murderers to provide a sample to the country's DNA data bank.

Peter Demeter sees no reason for a sample of his DNA to be provided to police. (CBC)

Peter Demeter, 73, was in court Monday acting as his own lawyer to argue against a request by an Ontario regional police force to provide the DNA sample.

Demeter was convicted in 1974 for arranging the gruesome murder of his wife Christine, a stunning fashion model originally from Austria.

"It's just  continuous harassment by Peel Regional Police of 33 years since they have absolutely zero use for it," Demeter told CBC News from the medium-security Bath Institute in Ontario.

"I'm not going anywhere. I am slated to die here, or if I get sick I am slated to die in the dungeon of the maximum-security Kingston Penitentiary where they have a so-called palliative care ward."

The police said it's not a personal vendetta against Demeter, they're just applying the law.

"There's no specific reason why Peel Regional Police are seeking Mr. Demeter's DNA specifically other than he falls into a category," said Const. Peter Brandwood, a spokesman for the force. "He's eligible for us by judicial authority to take his DNA."

Canada's six-year-old DNA law allows for retroactive collections, meaning anyone convicted of murder, serious sexual assault or declared a dangerous offender can be ordered to provide a DNA sample even if their crimes were committed before the DNA law came into affect.

The law covers about 6,000 convicts.

Demeter, a former multi-millionaire land developer from Mississauga, Ont., has been weakened by stroke, a heart attack and had chemotherapy administered three times since his murder case gripped the nation.

While still serving his sentence, Demeter was convicted again, this time for trying to arrange the murders of his cousin's son and a lawyer's daughter.

He's able to apply for parole next year, but a judge has already said he should never be released.

 

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