smorgs wrote:At the moment happy slapping seems confined to boys...but hey, it won't take long
No, I'm afraid this sort of behaviour is not gender specific. We've had a very high profile case going here in British Columbia where a girl was murdered by 6 girls. It's quite sad. See below:
May 18, 2005
Ellard's lawyer plans appeal
VANCOUVER (CP) - The lawyer for Kelly Ellard says he will appeal her second-degree murder conviction in the beating death of Reena Virk in 1997.
"I'll appeal," lawyer Peter Wilson said Wednesday, although he would not discuss the basis for an appeal. Ellard was scheduled to be sentenced Thursday at a hearing that was initially scheduled for last month but was delayed.
Her conviction for second-degree murder means an automatic life term but what the sentencing determines is the length of time she must be in custody before she can apply for parole.
When a jury found her guilty last month, it made no recommendation to the judge on parole eligibility.
Ellard was found guilty in her third trial for the 1997 beating and drowning of Virk, a horrific attack in Victoria that focused a national spotlight on teen violence.
The 22-year-old has already spent about 2 1/2 years in prison.
She was found guilty by a jury in her first trial in 2000 but the verdict was overturned and a new trial ordered because an appeal court found she had been improperly cross-examined. In the second trial last summer, the jury was unable to reach a verdict after five days of deliberations.
Wilson said after the verdict that he was planning to appeal.
Ellard has been one of the most well-known figures in B.C.'s judicial system since the night of Nov. 14, 1997, when a swarm of girls attacked 14-year-old Virk under a bridge in suburban Victoria.
The bloodied Virk staggered from beneath the Craigflower Bridge after the beating and, according to witnesses at the trials, was followed across the structure by Ellard and Warren Glowatski.
Glowatski was convicted in 1999 of second-degree murder in Virk's beating and drowning death and is serving a life sentence at the minimum-security Ferndale Institution in the Fraser Valley.
His application last fall for day parole was turned down by the National Parole Board.
Six girls - most of whom testified at all the trials - were convicted in 1998 of assaulting Virk. They cannot be named due to provisions of the Young Offenders Act.
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