Girl found guilty of manslaughter in Toronto swarming attack sentenced to 16 months' probation
8 girls initially charged with 2nd-degree murder, 7 pled guilty to lesser charges
An Ontario judge urged a teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in a deadly swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man not to forget or minimize the events of that night as he sentenced her to probation Friday.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Philip Campbell encouraged the girl to be "clear and candid" about her role in the attack that led to the death of Kenneth Lee and to keep the 59-year-old in her mind as time goes on.
The girl's remorse was "evident" as she delivered an emotional apology in court earlier this week, the judge said. At the time, the teen also said she couldn't imagine the pain Lee's loved ones endured, "and I'm sure that is true," he said.
However, the judge said, "you can try and imagine — and you should."
"When your probation ends, you'll have paid your debt to society," Campbell said. "But Mr. Lee, though dead, will stay with you and I urge you to think about him."
Campbell sentenced the girl to three years, the maximum available for manslaughter in a youth case, minus 20 months of credit for the time she previously spent in custody — a calculation the judge said also factored in the traumatic impact of four strip searches she experienced while in youth facilities, which represented violations of her constitutional rights.
Up to a year of her 16-month probation will be spent in an intensive support and supervision program.
The girl was 14 when she and seven other teens attacked Kenneth Lee in a downtown Toronto parkette in December 2022. The 59-year-old died in hospital after undergoing emergency surgery.
All eight girls were charged with second-degree murder, and seven ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges — five to manslaughter, one to assault and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
This girl also tried to plead guilty to manslaughter as her trial began earlier this year, but the Crown rejected her plea.
Months later, Campbell found her not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
Sentencing marks final chapter of swarming case
Barring any appeals, Friday's sentencing marks the final chapter of a long and complex legal saga that prosecutors have described as "extraordinary" in terms of a youth prosecution.
The case was split last year, with four girls pleading guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice over several months and the remaining four committed to face trial in Ontario Superior Court.
Two trials were scheduled, one early in the year and the other in May. In the end, only one trial took place as the other girls also entered guilty pleas.
Several of the girls also filed a constitutional challenge over the strip searches they were subjected to while in custody. Campbell found the searches were unconstitutional but that rather than staying the charges, as the teens and their lawyers had sought, the appropriate remedy would be to reduce the sentences of those found guilty in the case.
Defence and Crown lawyers agreed the girl sentenced Friday has made remarkable progress since her arrest and shown a commitment to improving herself.
"This positive trajectory and the risks in moving from it are significant considerations in passing sentence on her," Campbell said.
Prosecutors initially said they would ask for the girl to spend some time in custody as part of her sentence but changed course earlier this week, instead arguing for a 16-month probation sentence, with the first year under an intensive support and supervision program.
The defence sought a sentence of 12 months of probation, with a minimum of six months in an intensive support and supervision program.
'I'm truly sorry'
On Wednesday, the girl offered a tearful apology as she addressed the court, saying she accepts full responsibility for her actions and is making an effort to change herself for the better.
"I know nothing I say will ever change what happened, but I still want to say that I'm truly sorry and I accept full responsibility and I am making an effort to grow as a person and learn from it and I'm disappointed in the actions and decisions I made," she said.
The late-night attack that shocked the city was captured on security video, and the footage served as the central piece of evidence at trial.
Prosecutors argued the girl was the one who fatally wounded Lee, stabbing him with a knife or small pair of scissors in the melee. The defence, however, argued it was impossible to tell from the video who stabbed Lee or when, noting Lee himself didn't realize he'd been stabbed at the time.
No knife was recovered in the investigation, and the girl's lawyers said she didn't have one at any point that night.
At the time of her arrest, she had two small pairs of scissors and some tweezers, court heard.
Lee died from hemorrhagic shock after he was stabbed in the heart, the forensic pathologist who examined his body told the court. The pathologist testified it was unlikely the scissors found with the girl would have caused the wound to Lee's heart, though they could have caused a smaller, non-fatal stab wound near his armpit.
Campbell said prosecutors had not proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the girl was responsible for the fatal injury, or that she had the state of mind required for murder.