TORONTO — A teen who pleaded guilty to assault in the alleged swarming of a homeless Toronto man has taken responsibility for her role in the deadly incident and is working to get her life back on track, her lawyer told a sentencing hearing Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Karen Lau Po Hung told a Toronto court the girl has been catching up on her schooling, seeing a counsellor and cutting down on her consumption of cannabis, as well as making plans for her future.
The girl should be sentenced to a year of probation with conditions that she continue participating in programs, the defence lawyer argued.
"She has just a great support system in place that will help her rehabilitate, reintegrate, and it's clear that she can be held accountable by 12 months' probation," Lau Po Hung said.
Lau Po Hung also raised several possible mitigating factors, including that the girl was strip searched three times while in custody in a way that left her completely naked, which is against provincial policy.
"I think she should be given significant consideration and mitigation for that," the lawyer argued.
"At the end of the day, she was a 13-year-old young girl," she said. "The only time she'd been naked in front of anyone else was when she was a child, and only her mother had seen her, so that made her very uncomfortable."
The girl pleaded guilty in June to assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon. Court has heard the weapon involved in the latter charge is a bag that belonged to Lee.
Police have alleged that Lee, a 59-year-old man who was living in the city's shelter system, died after he was swarmed and stabbed by a group of girls in December 2022.
Eight girls between the ages of 13 and 16 were charged with second-degree murder. Aside from the girl who pleaded guilty to assault charges, three others have pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
The remaining four girls are set to face trial in Superior Court next year, three for second-degree murder and one for manslaughter. The cases have been split into two trials due to scheduling reasons, with the first to start in January.
Prosecutors said Wednesday they are seeking a sentence of eight months in custody and four of community supervision for the girl who pleaded guilty to assault charges.
They argued the girl should be granted four months of credit for the 41 days she spent in secure custody, which would leave her to serve four months in custody and four under community supervision.
"The Crown's position is that this was an extremely aggravating situation overall, and that (the girl) had an opportunity to see what was happening to Mr. Lee, and she involved herself at pivotal points," prosecutor Sarah De Filippis said.
The defence argued no adult would be sentenced to custody on those charges.
Lawyers for the girl and one of the teens who pleaded guilty to manslaughter were also in court Wednesday to argue the strip searches the pair underwent while in custody violated their rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The issue of strip searches in youth facilities has been raised by some of the other girls as well.
Ontario Court Justice David Stewart Rose deemed the searches to be a "significant mitigating factor" in sentencing one of the girls who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Lee's death.
Court heard that girl was left naked during six searches at two facilities where she was held. She was also placed in isolation for 24 hours after a judicial order prohibited strip searches, according to an agreed statement of facts previously read in court.
That girl was sentenced to 21 months of probation under an Intensive Support and Supervision Program.
Another girl who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the case received a sentence of 15 months of probation under the same program.
None of the accused can be identified because they are minors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 18, 2024.
Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press