Another girl charged in the 2022 swarming death of Kenneth Lee has pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of assault Friday after an agreed statement of facts noted she was seen walking away moments before the stabbing allegedly occurred.
Minutes later, she returned to the scene, according to the document read in Superior Court in downtown pc28¹ÙÍøFriday. She was directed to flag down a nearby ambulance by a shelter worker who had intervened to help Lee and forced the other girls to flee following the December 2022 attack.
Lee would be taken to St. Michael’s Hospital where he would die of a stab wound that punctured his heart.
So far, no one has been found guilty of murdering him, with five other girls in the case having already pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Another girl who the Crown says stabbed Lee is awaiting a decision in her case.
The girl who pleaded guilty Friday was 16 years old at the time, among the older of the girls arrested. She stood beside her defence lawyer Daisy Bygrave to enter the plea in a second-floor courtroom. The admission means she will avoid a planned jury trial scheduled for next month. The charge of manslaughter she faced at that trial is expected to be withdrawn.
Eight teen girls aged 13 to 16 were originally charged with second-degree murder after Lee, who was homeless at the time, was swarmed and stabbed in a downtown pc28¹ÙÍøparketteÌýon the night of Dec. 17, 2022.Ìý
Jennifer Ellis, a pc28¹ÙÍøparamedic, testified on Friday in uniform at a trial for two of the
Earlier in the evening, the girl who pleaded FridayÌýand several of her friends who would later be arrested alongside her, went to Yorkdale mallÌýbefore heading downtown on the subway, according to the statement of facts.
She participated, the statement said, in attacking several people as the group of girls made their way south on the subway (There have been no charges in those incidents, which were captured on TTC surveillance footage). On a southbound train approaching St. Andrew station, the girl and two others “abruptly and without provocation” assaulted two women, the statement said. The girl hit one in the back of the head before pulling her hair while the others joined in, the statement said.
The group of girls then left the subway and later arrived at the parkette at York and Front Streets where they were loitering before Lee arrived with a friend just before midnight, the statement said.
The attack on Lee, captured on video surveillance, began when the girl who pleaded guilty threw a bag at Lee’s friend, which didn’t hit her, the statement said. She watched as the other teens hit, kicked, pushed and stomped on Lee before taking items from his friend’s belongings and throwing a “small object” at Lee, the statement said.Ìý
She filmed a bloodied-face Lee as other girls yelled and spat at him.
The girl never had knife or another weapon and the statement said she was not responsible for stabbing him.
Ahead of trial, three girls pleaded guilty to manslaughter and one toÌýassault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. A fifth girl pleaded guilty to manslaughter after the evidence in her trial had been concluded but before argument began.
The first four girls have already been sentenced and are on probation. The fifth girl has a sentencing hearing later this month.
Another girl, who the Crown alleges is responsible for the fatal stab wound that punctured Lee’s heart, is now awaiting a decision after closing arguments in the case against her concluded Thursday. The girl earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but her plea was rejected by the Crown and a trial on the second-degree murder charge went ahead. A decision is scheduled for May 30.
That decision was intentionally set by the judge for after a planned jury trial overseen by the same justice. That trial was expected to include the girl who pleaded guilty Friday along with the eighth girl who was set to be her co-accused.
The girl who entered the most recent guilty plea was already facing a lesser charge of manslaughter following a preliminary inquiry, while her co-accused was committed to trial on the second-degree murder charge.
That trial, now for just one girl, was scheduled to begin on May 5. The court heard Friday the remaining girl may re-elect to have her trial in front of a judge alone, but nothing has been scheduled.
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