A 15-year-old girl who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the beating death of Spence Street resident Audrey Cooper has been released from custody and ordered to live in a group home for troubled youth.
The girl -- who was 12 years old at the time of Cooper's death -- has spent 29 months at the Manitoba Youth Centre, where she continually bullied inmates and intimidated staff, court heard.
Justice Deborah McCawley said custody has done little to modify the girl's behaviour.
"It is clear she has not done well in her current environment," McCawley said. "In my view, it is time to try something different."
McCawley had previously expressed concerns about releasing the girl to the community, saying a pre-sentence report prepared for her was the worst she had ever seen.
Certain details of the case cannot be printed due to a publication ban.
The girl was among four youths arrested following Cooper's brutal killing outside her home in October 2006. A now 17-year-old male and two 16-year-old girls are still before the court charged with second-degree murder. If convicted, the Crown will be seeking adult sentences for the three accused.
McCawley sentenced the girl in court yesterday to the maximum youth sentence of three years, crediting her eight months for time served. McCawley ordered she serve the balance of her sentence in a group home, where she will receive one-on-one supervision for 18 hours a day.
The group home "will be sufficiently restrictive and structured to provide her with the help she needs," McCawley said. "We are not defined by the worst things we have ever done. She should have the opportunity to prove this to be true."
A pre-sentence report described the girl in court yesterday as "remorseless" and "entrenched" in the gang lifestyle. Court heard the girl's mother and father -- both residential school survivors -- provided her with no parental guidance and that her mother showed her how to smoke crack.
"Many of her problems are not of her own making," McCawley said. "This is a tragic example of the multi-generational impact of the residential school system."
dean.pritchard@sunmedia.ca
Okay, let's count the horsh1te comments:
1) "McCawley ordered she serve the balance of her sentence in a group home, where she will receive one-on-one supervision for 18 hours a day." "saying a pre-sentence report prepared for her was the worst she had ever seen": makes sense we release her from detention eh?
2) "Court heard the girl's mother and father -- both residential school survivors -- provided her with no parental guidance and that her mother showed her how to smoke crack.": convenient excuse. No accountability.
3) "Many of her problems are not of her own making," No accountability.
4) "We are not defined by the worst things we have ever done. She should have the opportunity to prove this to be true.": Such a crock of sh1te.
5) "This is a tragic example of the multi-generational impact of the residential school system." Yet more excuse-making.
THIS is why our youth, and in particular aboriginal youth, are so fricked up. They don't even have to make up excuses. Let's let the bleeding hearts and our limp-wristed judicial system do it for them.
How utterly pathetic is this? Lock this little monster up. Throw away the key.
