One of eight teen girls charged in the swarming attack that left a Toronto man dead has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Police say that three 13-year-olds, three 14-year-olds, and two 16-year-olds were involved in the attack on Kenneth Lee, 59. Mr. Lee was living in a shelter at the time. He died in hospital after being swarmed and stabbed by the group in December 2022.
Six of the youth are facing second-degree murder charges while the other two have been charged with manslaughter.
The names of the accused minors cannot be published under the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA).
The girl who pleaded guilty on May 30 was 13 years old at the time of the attack and is now 15 years old. She has been scheduled to return to court on July 12.
It is expected one other girl will plead guilty to manslaughter. Three others are also expected to plead guilty but it’s not clear what charges they will plead guilty to, and the other three teens are expected to stand trial in Superior Court but a date has not been set.
He commended Mr. Ford on his support for bail reforms and asked that he also support changes to the YCJA.
“Why do we need to protect their privacy?” Mr. Shum wrote, regarding the accused girls. “Society needs to know who these perpetrators are; especially if they are attending school. As a parent, I would want to know if a perpetrator was in my child’s school or my child’s class.”
He also questioned why the teens were given bail on such a serious charge.
“The optics of allowing bail continue to demonstrate a weak YCJA system sending a message to young offenders that they can do anything and not be held accountable,” Mr. Shum said.
“We ensured that he knew we were always here for him and were waiting for him to return home. He wanted to resolve his issues independently, and we understood and respected his wishes,” she said.
Ms. Shum said that her brother would help anyone, a close friend or just an acquaintance.
