A moment of sanity emerged in a downtown youth court.
Two girls who pleaded guilty in the vicious swarming of Ken Lee had hoped their charges would be stayed because their rights had been violated under the Charter when they were strip searched and left completely naked when in custody.
How outrageous that would have been viewed by the rest of us — and Ontario Court Justice David Rose agreed.
Still, both teens are not going to be doing any more time in custody for the violent Dec. 18, 2022 attack. Instead, the girl who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the swarming death of the homeless man — and who is still remarkably remorseless — will have to do two years of an Intensive Support and Supervision Program in the community.
Her co-accused, who pleaded to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm, was sentenced to 12 months probation.
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Rose acknowledged the girls’ rights were violated by the “troubling” routine strip searches — but found that could be remedied in his sentencing — and not by the wholesale throwing out of the serious charges.
“I find rather easily that strip searching (girl 1) and (girl 2) does not rise to the level where it would shock the conscious of the community to the point where stay at proceedings is appropriate. Rather, I find the opposite,” he said in his lengthy ruling Tuesday morning.
“It would shock the community to stay the charges it needs (girl 1) and (girl 2), particularly where alternate remedies are available. Routine strip searching … was offensive and nowhere near the level where the court should stay the charges. For these reasons, the application to stay the charges is dismissed.”
Rose also found the impact of strip searching was brief, even if the girl who pleaded to manslaughter underwent seven searches, and the other girl was searched three times. But going forward, the judge said this is the first finding about the unlawfulness of routine strip searching youth. “It is expected that the ministry will take this into account when revisiting a search policy and regulations for young persons in custody.”
Rose has already sentenced two other girls who pleaded guilty to manslaughter to periods of probation — one to 15 months and the other to 21 months, though both are also in an Intensive Support and Supervision Program — while finding that “further incarceration would serve no lawful purpose.”