Four of the girls accused in the alleged swarming death of Kenneth Lee are set to enter guilty pleas in court starting at the end of this month.
The girls and their lawyers appeared before Ontario Court Justice David Rose on Friday after their preliminary hearing concluded last week.
Eight teenaged girls were originally charged by pc28¹ÙÍøPolice with second-degree murder after the 59-year-old Lee was allegedly swarmed and stabbed in downtown pc28¹ÙÍønear Union Station in December 2022.
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The girls were 13, 13, 13, 14, 14, 14, 16 and 16 years old at the time of their arrest.
On May 10, Rose ruled that six of the girls would face trial on the second-degree murder charge and two on a lesser charge of manslaughter. The evidence at the preliminary hearing, as with the girls’ earlier bail hearings, is covered by publication bans so as not to prejudice a potential future jury.
Another three of the eight girls charged in Lee’s murder, whose identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, asked through their counsel on Friday to be sent for trial in Superior Court. Trial dates have not yet been set.
One remaining girl will be back in court later this month with no decision made yet on how to move the case against her forward.
Of the eight girls, one remains in custody in a youth detention facility.
Jennifer Pagliaro is a Toronto-based crime reporter for the
Star. Follow her on Twitter: .
