Shannon Morrissette, who communicated through sign language, visited her neighbour's basement suite twice the day she was killed. (CBC)

A man who killed a five-year-old girl in Calgary almost two decades ago has lost his bid for escorted temporary releases from a New Brunswick prison.

The National Parole Board denied an application Thursday by Gleason Bennett Williams for four supervised trips out of the Dorchester Institution to visit his sister's grave and family on Prince Edward Island.

Williams pleaded guilty in 1993 to second-degree murder in the death of Shannon Morrissette, who was hearing-impaired and couldn't speak. He lived across an alley from the girl's home in southeast Calgary.

Eight of Shannon's relatives appeared at the hearing to make victim impact statements at the medium-security prison, south of Moncton, N.B. Holding the girl's photo, they met reporters afterward.

"The audacity, just for him to ask for any kind of release, just makes me sick," said Shannon's aunt, Claudette Kennedy. "We came [from] far away to keep this guy in prison and we did it. We did it."

'I am trapped in a prison. There is no parole board, no early release.'—Janet Morrissette, Shannon's mother

The board decided that Williams' version of the events and his difficulty accepting responsibility led them to reject his application.

Shannon, who communicated through sign language, visited Williams' basement suite twice on Aug. 15, 1992. He gave her an orange and an apple after her first visit.

When she returned, he strangled her and slit her throat twice. Williams then discarded her body in a nearby dumpster.

In recounting the events surrounding Shannon's death, Williams told the board on Thursday he had been drinking and was fixing the carpet on his stairs when he accidentally cut the girl's throat with a utility knife. He said he was closing the door and didn't see her standing there.

The National Parole Board denied escorted day passes for Gleason Bennett Williams, who killed his five-year-old neighbour in 1992. (CBC)

After failing to resuscitate her, he went to a bar to drink more. He could not explain why he put the body in a duffle bag and threw it in a dumpster, or why medical reports concluded the girl's throat had been cut post-mortem.

Williams, a former construction worker, also could not explain why this version of events differed from the official statement that he killed Shannon because he was tired of having her look in his window.

Lab tests were inconclusive as to whether the girl, who was found with her bathing suit around her knees, had been sexually assaulted. Williams denied any sexual contact.

"I am trapped in a prison. There is no parole board, no early release," said Shannon's mother, Janet Morrissette, standing metres away from her daughter's killer.

"I lost my daughter and my desire for life."

The body of Shannon Morrissette was found in a duffel bag and discarded in a dumpster in southeast Calgary in August 1992. (CBC)

Rebecca Morrissette was 18 months old when her sister, Shannon, was killed.

"I never got to know my sister," she said. "You threw her in the garbage for absolutely nothing."

The parole board said Williams is a risk to reoffend, and requires more counseling.

"I think us being there and they could feel our energy and our emotion, I think it helped them make a decision," said Shannon's aunt, Kathy Murray.

Williams, who was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 20 years, can appeal Thursday's decision. He's eligible to apply for day parole in August, and for full parole in 2012.

Shannon's family said they will be present to fight any parole requests Williams makes in the future.

With files from The Canadian Press