Girl in swarming death is spared jail time

Judge cites teen's strip searches in custody after crime that 'shocked city'

- JENNIFER PAGLIARO

The first girl to be sentenced in the swarming and killing of Kenneth Lee will serve no additional jail time, a judge ruled Monday, while pointing out that she had been subjected to repeated, "inhumane" strip searches during a lengthy detention following her arrest.

After she earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the high-profile case, Justice David Rose ordered that the girl who was 13 at the time of the attack and is now 15 years old - be subjected to 15 months probation, along with a structured, intensive supervision program for the same period. The program, for youth found guilty of a criminal offence, includes mental health counselling and substance abuse supports.

The judge called the attack on 59year-old Lee "vicious and cowardly” and found that the girl, who sat silently before him in a sixth-floor Toronto courtroom, had been "central to the physical assault" but did not wield the knife, nor was she the one who stabbed Lee - ultimately leading to his death.

"The crime shocked the city," Rose said.

But in siding with her defence counsel, Rose acknowledged the significant time the girl had already spent in pre-sentence custody 243 days - as well as the fact she was strip-searched on seven occasions while in detention, including three times illegally — against a court order. Rose quoted the bail judge who made that order, Justice Maria Sirivar, who earlier called those searches “inhumane.”

The decision offers the first glimpse of how the court weighs the seriousness of the charges against the accused in a deadly and headline-grabbing incident with their treatment while in custody — which has drawn attention and criticism, both inside and outside the courtroom — as well as their personal circumstances.