Kelly Marie Ellard convicted of murdering Reena Virk

That was long overdue.

It is finally over. I wonder if this will bring any closure to Kelly's family.

Yes, very long overdue!

I don't know about the Ellard family, but more so for the Virk family. It's a long time to wait for justice.

Of course....it's not in the same the same time frame as the Air India bombing. There's no justice for all those poor families that are involved in that tragedy.

Oops... I meant the Virk family. I feel so foolish that I made that typo.

Yes, you are right about the Air India incident as well

Kelly Ellard, another sick individual just like Karla Homolka. Read some of these details....

Ellard threatened inmates, held knife to girl in school, court hears
at 20:46 on July 5, 2005, EST.
AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - Teen killer Kelly Ellard scared her cooking teacher years before she committed murder, pressing a 20-centimetre knife against the throat of another student, her sentencing hearing was told Tuesday.

Home-economics instructor Colleen Calderwood said there was dead silence in the classroom. "I froze at first. She had a bright look in her eyes, an intense look in her expression," Calderwood said of Ellard, who was just 13 at the time.

The teacher said Ellard shrugged when Calderwood moved to snatch the blade away, dropping it and shoving the frightened girl.

Just a year and a half later, Ellard beat and drowned troubled 14-year-old Reena Virk.

Ellard was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1997 murder in May. The crime is comes with an automatic life sentence, but because she was only 15 at the time, the maximum is seven years before she is eligible for parole.

Calderwood testified for the Crown in its fight to keep Ellard in prison as long as possible.

Her parole eligibility was set at the minimum five years the first time she was sentenced for killing Virk. She appealed the verdict and a second trial ended in a hung jury.

Prosecutor Catherine Murray said incident reports on Ellard from her time in custody show a history of violence.

Prison guard Tony Guarascio told the court he monitored some of Ellard's phone calls from the Youth Detention Centre in Victoria.

In one conversation, her mother lamented how horrible Virk's killing was.

"Maybe she deserved to die," Guarascio said he overheard Ellard say.

"It was such a startling comment," the guard said. "I think it will be with me always."

Ellard's mother sat in the gallery behind her daughter in the prisoner's box, shaking her head.

Virk's mother Suman sat just a few seats over in the same row, pressing her lips together and staring straight ahead.

Mukand Pallan, Virk's grandfather, said he is appalled Ellard has never apologized for the horrible things she has done.

"She never said sorry," he said outside the court.


Virk was swarmed by a number of teens, mostly girls, on a cold fall night in 1997, allegedly for sleeping with another girl's boyfriend.

Ellard jumped in as Virk's head was punted like a football into a brick wall and a cigarette was stubbed out on her forehead.

Most of the youth scattered from the scene under Victoria's Craigflower Bridge when they thought Virk had had enough, stealing her backpack and running to a parking lot to rip up her diary.

Virk, bleeding and severely battered, dragged herself across the bridge to get away.

Ellard and co-accused Warren Glowatski followed her.

Virk was dragged into the water and Ellard held her under until she stopped moving.

Ellard was jailed shortly after the murder, along with six other girls and Glowatski.

The girls were found guilty of various assault charges and Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder.

Court heard on Wednesday that when in custody, Ellard has been sentenced to periods in solitary confinement for causing disturbances and threatening other inmates.

During her trial in March, she was caught trying to smuggle contraband pills into jail, as well as makeup, stuffed in her bra.

She kicked a guard after being strip searched, an assistant warden at the prison testified.

Ellard plead guilty at a disciplinary hearing and was sentenced to seven days in solitary for the drugs and 15 days for the attack on the guard.

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more food for gunga, Reyn

Now we can have dueling psychopath threads going....

That's what this country is all about - choice. :wink:

Ellard - Victim Impact Statements
Jul, 06 2005 - 5:00 PM

VANCOUVER(CKNW/AM980) - It has been a gut-wrenching and heartbreaking day at the sentencing hearing for convicted killer Kelly Ellard.

Many in the courtroom wiped away tears as two members of murder victim Reena Virk's family read victim impact statements.

Reena's grandfather Mukand Pallan choked back tears as he described missing his grandaughter every moment and longing to sit with Reena and hear her call him grandpa.

Pallan called Ellard a heartless killer who lied.
"She hasn't got the guts to come to the stand and admit it that she made a mistake."

Reena's mother Suman spoke from the heart without any notes, telling the court her worst moment came when she had to go to the morgue to identify her daughter and wasn't able to hold her for fear of destroying evidence.

At that comment, "Ellard's" mother was spotted wiping a tear from her face.

Ellard sat in the prisoner's dock with her head down.

Earlier this year, Ellard was found guilty of the second-degree murder of Virk.

She automatically received a life sentence.

Tomorrow, she could find out her parole eligibility.

The most she can get is seven years in prison because she was only 15 when charged with the crime.

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Ellard involved in attacks where girl's hair set on fire, woman's lip split
at 21:36 on July 6, 2005, EST.
AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - Suman Virk stared at her daughter's beaten body in the morgue in the same hospital where she given birth to her 14 years earlier, ordered by police not to touch her because it would disturb evidence.

"I could not hold my baby," she told the killer's sentencing hearing. "The indignity of that was very hard to bear and the pain will remain with me forever."

Looking in the gallery, she said she hoped Kelly Ellard, 22, and her family, would get some idea of the torture she lives every day, remembering that scene.

Ellard was found guilty of unleashing a beating on Virk so severe she was left with shoe imprints in her skull and layers of her fat and muscle were sheered apart. A pathologist testified it usually takes the force of a car to do such damage.

Ellard followed Virk as she tried to get away from the vicious swarming in 1997. Ellard and a group of teen girls attacked her for allegedly, sleeping with someone else's boyfriend.

Ellard was determined to stop Virk from ratting, Crown prosecutor Catherine Murray said Wednesday.

She is fighting to convince a judge to give Ellard the maximum sentence, which is seven years before being eligible for parole.

Ellard smashed Virk's head on a tree, dragged her into Victoria's Gorge waterway and held her under until she stopped moving.

Ellard has been tried for the crime three times.

She was found guilty in 2000 and won an appeal. Her second trial ended in a hung jury and a third trial found her guilty of second-degree murder.

Virk's family has listened to the agonizing details of the attack over and over again. They have watched people lie on the stand and it has driven them into ill health, said Virk's grandfather, Mukand Pallan.

The elderly man took the stand for the first time to tell the judge how he feels after seven and a half years of grief.

"We long to sit with Reena, to hear her voice, hear her call me grandpa. That's my dearest wish, to be together like we were in the same old way."

He cried as he told the court Virk will never get to grow up and become a nurse.

"She will never be married or know the joys of parenthood," sobbed Pallan who has been in court almost every day of the long trials, his wife who is sick with arthritis at his side.

Shortly after Pallan's granddaughter was killed, his two sons developed Multiple Sclerosis.

His wife's arthritis has become nearly unbearable, preventing her from doing much walking and sitting through the days at court.

Pallan said his own heart disease has worsened over the years as he wrestled with constant thoughts of the violence Virk suffered.

The trials have taken a lot out of him, he said.

"It has been stressful and frustrating, listening to the facts and lies over and over, the horrible details of a crime by two heartless killers.

"Kelly has told her lies. Unfortunately," he sobbed, "my Reena is not here to tell us what really happened."

Virk's father hasn't been able to bear witness to the proceedings, too shattered with depression to face it, his wife said.

"Reena was very much a daddy's girl," Suman Virk told the court.

Ellard's parents showed little emotion, sitting behind their stone-faced daughter Kelly in the prisoner's box.

She says she is innocent and is appealing the conviction.

Crown prosecutor Murray said Ellard's refusal to admit responsibility is one of 10 aggravating factors that should encourage the judge to send her away for seven years before allowing her to apply for parole.

Ellard was a menace long before she killed Virk and alleged she has shown since the murder that when she is given freedom, she victimizes people.

B.C. Supreme Court was told Wednesday that three months before Virk died, Ellard was involved in a similar assault on another girl.

Ellard was hanging out with a group of girls who invited another girl to come out to a party at a Victoria schoolyard.

Former RCMP officer Bruce Brown testified at the second day of a three-day sentencing hearing that the girl was late so one of Ellard's friends called the girl's mom and asked "where the hell" she was.

The victim showed up at the school and the girls swarmed her, punching her head and kicking her stomach.

She said she thought Ellard kicked her once and then stood watching as the others set her hair on fire and then cut it all off, Brown said.

Ellard's friends, who were juveniles at the time, pleaded guilty to the assault and charges against Ellard were stayed.

Ellard wrote the young victim a letter from jail, apologizing for not helping her, signing it "love Kelly."

Between her second and third trials, her bail conditions were relaxed and she was allowed to live in a halfway house in suburban New Westminster, B.C.

A month later, in February 2004, she was charged in connection with an assault on a vulnerable, elderly woman.

May Klaiver said Ellard asked her to come and "chill out" with her and her friend, who was visibly pregnant and also drinking.

"She was very friendly at first and we were talking," Klaiver said. "Kelly asked me if I had ever done angel dust and said she had tried it in jail."

Then Ellard lost her cellphone and told Klaiver not to leave until it was found.

"She started pulling and pushing up on me and saying 'Where do you think you're going?' " Klaiver testified.

Ellard's drunk, pregnant companion allegedly beat Klaiver until her eye was blackened and swollen shut and her eyebrow and lip split.

Murray said Ellard may not have taken part in the actual beating on Klaiver, "but in the Crown's submission she incited it by making the allegations about the cellphone and holding Ms. Klaiver's coat."

The incident shows Ellard is still drawn to dangerous people and quickly creates criminal situations with them, the prosecutor said.

Justice Robert Bauman impose Ellard's sentence as early as Thursday.

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Kelly Ellard sentenced to life for second-degree murder of teen Reena Virk
at 20:07 on July 7, 2005, EST.
AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - Teen killer Kelly Ellard is frozen in a nightmare created on the cold fall night when she drowned an awkward, troubled 14-year-old girl, a judge said Thursday in sentencing her to life in prison.

Ellard hung her head as Justice Robert Bauman told her she will remain trapped until she takes responsibility for her actions. Bauman ruled that Ellard must spend seven years in custody for the 1997 death of Reena Virk before she can apply for parole.

Because of time already served, Ellard can seek parole in three years and nine months.

"Far from feeling remorse for this senseless murder . . . it's apparent you bragged and seemed proud of your actions," Bauman said.

Virk's mother Suman sighed with relief as the B.C. Supreme Court judge castigated the pale, gaunt Ellard.

"Her unwillingness to accept responsibility for her own actions puts her at high risk for delinquent behaviour," Bauman said.

It's a long time to have waited for justice, Virk's mother said outside court.

Ellard was found guilty of second-degree murder in 2000 and later won an appeal. Her second trial ended in a hung jury.

The Virk family, often sitting just a few seats over from Ellard's parents, has been in court day after day reliving the graphic details of Reena's death.

Virk, a loner who was in and out of foster homes, was beaten by Ellard, Warren Glowatski and six teen girls for allegedly sleeping with another girl's boyfriend.

The killing focused national attention on the issue of teen violence, particularly among girls.

Bauman said the prolonged swarming of Virk was a brutal assault against "a girl who sadly was just trying to find a place in society."

Glowatski was sentenced earlier to life in prison and is still in jail. His parole eligibility also was set at seven years. The minimum parole eligibility for a juvenile tried in adult court and convicted of second-degree murder is five years.

The six other girls were convicted of assaulting Virk and sentenced as juveniles.

Bauman said Ellard played "a central role in the attack and a crucial role in the murder."

He noted she was just 15 at the time, with no previous criminal record.

"Just who Kelly Ellard is, then and now, is the conundrum I find in sentencing."

He outlined her troubling behaviour while awaiting trial, including being accused of assaulting a woman in a park and threatening other inmates. She was caught drinking, has been accused of using cocaine and Bauman found she has done nothing to better herself.

"Ms. Ellard could not play by the rules even in the throes of a murder trial," the judge said.

Virk's family was pleased with the judge's sentence. Her father, Manjit, who rarely makes appearances at court, stood beside his wife after the decision and faced the media cameras.

He spoke about his hopes for Ellard and wishes that she will find a healthy path in life.

"I feel very sad for her today. She has opportunities available to her to improve her life. I really hope she will go that path. Nobody can do it for her.

"I really believe she is lacking something here," he said, motioning to his heart."

Ellard still denies any involvement in the murder and her lawyer has said she will appeal this second guilty verdict.

Reena's mother Suman Virk said she can't even think about that happening.

Suman's uncle, Nand Pallan, said he's still asking questions that have gripped him since the day Reena died.

"Why Kelly? What was the reason to kill her? I know Reena since she was a little baby, she would never hurt a fly," he lamented.

Both Virk and Ellard were described by their grandparents in letters to the court as girls deprived of the opportunities that come with growing up. Reena will never be a nurse. Kelly has never gone on a date. Reena will never experience the joys of parenthood. Kelly has never had a job.

Ellard is described as having a fragile mental state as a result of her time in jail.

Her mother, Susan Pakos, asked the judge to release her to the positive influence to her family as soon as possible before her chances of rehabilitation are ground down.

"She has suffered more publicly and privately than anyone can ever imagine," she said in a letter to Bauman.

The attack on Virk was waged two months after Ellard's 15th birthday.

"She's lived in its shadow ever since," said her lawyer Peter Wilson.

"She's a person everyone loves to hate. Everyone has an opinion of her, most of which has been absorbed from the media coverage which has demonized her."

Few accused have gotten more coverage than she has, Wilson said.

Her family members have been hounded, even stalked by some members of the media, he said.

Her mother has refused to give interviews. She waited for the verdict in the case on another floor of the courthouse and was noticably absent when her daughter's sentence was handed down.

"I have nothing to say to you," she said after court adjourned Thursday.

Before the sentencing, Ellard's stepfather said his daughter is a harmless 15-year-old girl frozen in time and isn't a danger to society.

George Pakos left court angrily after listening to Crown counsel Catherine Murray describe Ellard as the violent leader of a vicious attack on an already injured girl.

"Rapists and pedophiles are a danger to society," Pakos said.

"She's not a danger to society, I'll tell you that. She's just a young girl. You can put that in your paper."

Ellard was found guilty in May of unleashing a beating on Virk so severe she was left with shoe imprints in her skull and layers of her fat and muscle were sheered apart.

A pathologist testified it usually takes the force of a car to do such damage.

The attack was unprovoked, court heard. Ellard and her friends lured Virk out to punish her for allegedly sleeping around and bad-mouthing people.

Ellard followed Virk as she tried to get away.

She was determined to stop Virk from ratting, Murray said.

Ellard smashed Virk's head on a tree, dragged her into Victoria's Gorge waterway and held her under until she stopped moving.

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Teen killer Kelly Ellard appeals murder conviction, seeks fourth trial

at 17:38 on August 9, 2005, EST.
AMY CARMICHAEL

VANCOUVER (CP) - Teen killer Kelly Ellard has appealed her murder conviction for the beating death of Reena Virk and is seeking either an acquittal or a fourth trial.

Her lawyer Peter Wilson filed documents to the court briefly outlining the grounds for an appeal of her conviction and sentence. "The sentence imposed was, in all circumstances, excessive," he wrote in the documents filed in court.

Ellard received an automatic life sentence for second-degree murder last month from Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court. She was ordered to serve seven years before being eligible for parole.

She has had three trials since being charged in 1997 with Virk's death in Victoria.

At her first trial in 2000, Madame Justice Nancy Morrison convicted Ellard of second-degree murder and set her parole ineligibility at five years.

She appealed that conviction and won.

Her second trial ended in a hung jury. She was convicted by a jury at her third trial earlier this year.

In his closing statement at her sentencing hearing, Wilson asked that Ellard not be sent away for a long period of time, in the interest of rehabilitation.

"Kelly Ellard's not lost to us yet," he told Bauman.

But Bauman was not convinced Ellard deserved leniency. He handed her the stiffest sentence available: seven years before being able to apply for parole.

Ellard was 15 at the time of the murder and her punishment is dictated by the Young Offenders Act, although she was put on trial for murder as an adult.

In the notice of appeal, Wilson asked that an acquittal verdict be entered, or alternatively that a new trial be ordered. He also asked for a reduction in the period she must wait before she is eligible for parole.

The appeal likely won't make its way into the courts until next year.

Virk's death drew national attention to the issue of violence among girls.

The trials of those involved in the beating of Virk heard grisly details of the murder again and again.



Ellard was found guilty in May of unleashing a beating on Virk, who was 14 when she died, that was so severe she was left with shoe imprints in her skull. Layers of her fat and muscle were sheered apart, which a pathologist testified usually takes the force of a car to do such damage.

The attack was unprovoked, court heard. Ellard and her friends lured Virk out to punish her for allegedly sleeping around and bad-mouthing people.

Ellard followed Virk as she tried to get away from her attackers and smashed her head on a tree. Court heard that she also dragged Virk into Victoria's Gorge waterway and held her underwater until she stopped moving.

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Not really. This one's obviously severely ****ed up and, probably, one or more other people are going to have to die at some future point in time before she gets put away forever.