Sentencing expected for girl found guilty of manslaughter in deadly swarming

Global News

4 days ago

An Ontario judge is set to deliver his sentence this afternoon in the case of a teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in a deadly swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man.
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, Ontario Justice Philip Campbell found her not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
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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.
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The defence argues the girl should receive a sentence of 12 months of probation, with a minimum of six months in an intensive support and supervision program.
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.
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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.