Final Evaluation Situation 1 | P a g e

The Murder of Reena Virk _____________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Second Trimester

Final Evaluation Situation

In your booklet, read the

three texts about the

murder of Reena Virk.

PERIOD 1

Take notes about the

crime. Complete the

reading chart with

information for and

against each of the

convicted teenagers.

PERIOD 1

Group discussion and evaluation

PERIOD 2

Final Evaluation Situation 2 | P a g e

In this evaluation situation, you will learn about Reena Virk, a fourteen year old Canadian girl

who was brutally murdered by her peers in 1997 in the city of Victoria, British Columbia. You

will also discover who the perpetrators were and the reasons behind this awful crime.

Period 1

Task 1 (77 minutes)

Instructions: Read the three texts included in this booklet. Take notes on the people involved in

the situation. Concentrate on the facts. Use the chart provided.

You must also gather information on Wallen Glowatski and Kelly Ellard, the two teenagers who

were convicted with second-degree murder. In the next task, you will act as a juror who has to

decide whether or not those two should be granted parole.

Parole: Early release of a prisoner

who is then subject to continued

monitoring as well as compliance

with certain terms and conditions for

a specified period.

Period 2

Task 2 (77 minutes)

Instructions: You are a group of 5 or 6 jurors who have to decide whether or not Warren Glowatski and

Kelly Ellard should be granted parole. You must discuss and come to an agreement for each of the two

prisoners.

Part 1: Warren Glowatski (35 minutes) - Discuss his case and decide whether you grant him parole.

Part 2: Kelly Ellard (35 minutes) - Discuss her case and decide whether you grant her parole.

Jurors in “Twelve Angry Men”

*** You should talk about all the different elements of the case before coming to an agreement.

*** Refer to the evaluation grid before moving on to the discussion.

Final Evaluation Situation 3 | P a g e

Note Taking

While reading the texts, gather information on the following elements:

The murder Reena Virk Warren Glowatski Kelly Ellard

Final Evaluation Situation 4 | P a g e

Group Discussion - Evaluation Grid

Competency 1: Interacting Orally in English

A B C D E Participation in oral interaction

The student actively and respectfully listens to what others have to say. The student gives his opinion and responds to the opinion of others. The student asks questions to his teammates. The student perseveres when unsure about a word or an idea. He encourages others to speak.

The student respectfully listens to what others have to say. The student gives his opinion and responds to the opinion of others. The student asks questions to his teammates. The student takes risks while speaking.

The student listens to what others have to say. The student sometimes gives his opinion. The student responds briefly to the opinion of others. The student does not take risks.

The student does not always pay attention to the conversation. The student does not take risks. The student sometimes nods or shakes his head to show agreement or disagreement.

The student does not talk.

Competency 2: Reinvesting Understanding of Texts

A B C D E Use of knowledge from texts in a reinvestment task

The student uses many different elements from the texts to support his ideas. The student is able to analyze the situation from different perspectives. The student is able to take decisions based on his own reflection.

The student uses information from the texts to support his ideas. The student shows a good understanding of the situation. The student is able to take decisions based on his understanding of the texts.

The student sometimes refers to elements from the texts. The student shows a weak understanding of the situation.

The student rarely refers to elements from the texts. The student shows a poor understanding of the situation.

The student does not talk.

The Murder of Reena Virk 5 | P a g e

Reena Virk died at age 14.

Craigflower Bridge in Victoria, BC

The Murder of Reena Virk

A Case of Extreme Bullying

Reena Virk

Virk came from a large extended family who had emigrated from India. An article in Saturday Night described her 5

immediate family as "a minority within a minority," as they were of the Jehovah's Witness religion in the local East Indian community of 3,000 which was predominantly Sikh.

Virk has been described as a girl who was desperate for acceptance amongst her peers, but was taunted and/or 10

ostracized by these girls whose subculture was influenced by Los Angeles street gangs. At the beginning of her adolescence, Virk had become estranged from her family. She began to rebel against her immediate family and their strict religious beliefs. She began to smoke, disobey family rules and spent a few days at a group foster home where she 15

first came into contact with the local youth gang culture to which she became attracted. There also had been allegations that she may have been sexually abused by her father though the charges (filed in January 1996) had been stayed in court and after leaving home for six weeks, Virk returned home.

The murder 20

On the evening of Friday November 14, 1997, Reena Virk was invited to a "party" by her friend near the Craigflower Bridge, west of the city of Victoria, British Columbia.

While at the bridge, it is claimed that teenagers drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. Virk was subsequently swarmed by a 25

group later called the Shoreline Six. Witnesses said that one of the girls stubbed out a cigarette on Virk's forehead, and that while seven or eight others stood by and watched, Virk was

repeatedly hit, punched and kicked. She was found to have several cigarette burns on her skin, and apparently attempts were made to set her hair on fire. 30

This first beating ended when one of the girls told the others to stop.

Virk managed to walk away, but was followed by two members of the original group, Ellard and Glowatski. The pair dragged Virk to the other side of the bridge, made her remove her shoes and jacket, and beat her a second time. It is believed that Ellard forced Virk's head under the water and held it there with her foot until Virk stopped struggling. 35

The Murder of Reena Virk 6 | P a g e

Warren Glowatski was convicted of

second-degree murder in 1999.

Despite an alleged pact amongst the people involved not to "rat each other out," by the following Monday, rumors of the alleged murder spread throughout Shoreline Secondary School, where Virk was a student. Several uninvolved students and teachers heard the rumors, but no one came forward to report it to the police. The rumors were confirmed eight days later, on November 22, 1997, when police divers found Virk's partially clothed body washed ashore at 40

the Gorge Inlet, a major waterway on Vancouver Island.

The coroner ruled the death was by drowning. However, an autopsy later revealed that Virk had sustained several fractures, and that the head injuries were severe enough to have killed her if she had not been drowned. Virk was 14 years old.

Warren Paul Glowatski 45

Warren Glowatski was born April 26, 1981 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He was convicted in Virk's murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Glowatski and his parents moved around frequently prior to their separation in 1996; he lived in Estevan and Regina, 50

Saskatchewan, and Castlegar, British Columbia.

In 1996, Glowatski and his father moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. By 1997 they had settled in a trailer home near the southern tip of the Island in Saanich.

The following year Glowatski's father married a woman he met 55

in Las Vegas, Nevada. Warren Glowatski decided to remain in Saanich, living alone in the trailer and supported by money sent by his father.

On the night of Virk's murder, for unknown reasons, Glowatski involved himself in the fight and twice kicked the victim in the head. When the beating ended, Glowatski and Kelly Ellard 60

followed Virk. According to Glowatski, Ellard smashed Virk's face into a tree knocking her out. With Glowatski's help Ellard dragged Virk into the water where Ellard drowned her.

In June 1999, Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence. Because he was 16 at the time of the murder, he was eligible for parole after serving seven years. In November 2004, he was denied his first chance at day parole. 65

The Virks did not contest the parole, because Glowatski expressed remorse and responsibility for his part of the murder. In July 2006, he was granted unescorted temporary absences from jail. By December 2006, Glowatski was eligible to apply for day parole again, which he was granted in June 2007.

During his incarceration Glowatski, discovered that he is Metis. This played a large role in parole 70

hearings as he asked the parole board to incorporate his elders into the process and various

The Murder of Reena Virk 7 | P a g e

Kelly Marie Ellard assaulted and drowned

Reena Virk along with Warren Glowatski.

healing circles and other forms of restorative justice were used bringing Glowatski and Virk's parents together. In receiving day parole he proceeded to hug every member of the parole board and those present, including the Virks.

Kelly Marie Ellard 75

Kelly Ellard, born 1982, was 15 years old when she and Warren Glowatski assaulted and drowned Virk. Ellard is the stepdaughter of former Canadian national soccer team member George Pakos. 80

Ellard has stood trial three times for the murder, and been convicted twice. On June 12, 2009, the Globe and Mail reported that the Supreme Court of Canada had overturned the judicial ruling of the BC Court of Appeals in an 8-1 ruling. Ellard's 85

third trial was judged to be fairly executed; she has been denied bail and is awaiting a Supreme Court sentencing hearing.

Ellard was initially convicted in March 2000 for second-degree murder in Virk's death. In February 2003, this conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered. The second trial 90

ended in a mistrial (as the result of a hung jury) in July 2004. A third trial was ordered and Ellard was convicted again of second-degree murder in April 2005 and given an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for seven years. In between her first and second trials (March 2004),

The Supreme Court ruled that her conviction stands despite the error by the original trial judge. 95

Possible motives

The best-selling book about the case, "Under the Bridge" by Rebecca Godfrey, details some of the motives that may have led to Virk's death. Two of the girls convicted in the initial beating allege that Virk stole a phone book from Nicole Cook and started calling Cook's friends and spreading rumors about her. Cook stubbed out a cigarette on Virk's forehead during the attack. 100

Another girl, M.G.P, was allegedly angry with Virk for stealing her boyfriend. Virk once lived with the two girls in a youth group home. It is suggested she may have done those things in order to assert herself as "tough."

The book also reveals that Virk was initially considered a runaway when her mother first reported her missing to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Two Russian sisters, who lived in 105

the youth group home, were prompted to call the police upon hearing that Virk was most likely dead.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Reena_Virk

Trials of Kelly Ellard 8 | P a g e

Kelly Ellard was found guilty of second-degree murder in April 2005 in her third trial, but the jury's verdict was overturned by an appeal court. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

Trials of Kelly Ellard CBC News

On Nov. 14, 1997, Reena Virk was swarmed and beaten under a bridge in Saanich on Vancouver Island, B.C., by a group of teenagers, mainly 5 girls.

Battered and bloodied, the 14-year-old managed to get up and stagger across the bridge toward a bus stop to make her way home. Two of the original attackers dragged 10 her back and beat Virk again, leaving her in Victoria's Gorge waterway. Police found her body eight days later.

Six girls — ages 14 to 16 — were sentenced in 1998 for their roles in the initial beating. Warren Glowatski, who was 17 at the time, was convicted of second-degree murder a year later. 15

Kelly Ellard, meanwhile, has stood trial three times in connection with Virk's death. In 2000, she was convicted of second-degree murder but, three years later, the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. That ended with a deadlocked jury.

A third trial in 2005 again convicted Ellard of second-degree murder, but the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a fourth trial in 2008. However, the Supreme of Court of Canada upheld the 20 third conviction in June 2009.

Source: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/04/14/f-virk-timeline.html#ixzz0f4KJ7bCh

Hope for Change 9 | P a g e

Hope for Change By Rebecca Godfrey, author of “Under the Bridge”, a book on the Reena Virk’s case

On June 2, 1999, Manjit and Suman (Reena Virk’s father and mother) awaited the judge's

decision. "On the whole, Glowatski's evidence was conveniently incomplete and 5

improbable," Justice Malcolm Macaulay declared. "I conclude he helped drag

Virk, while she was unconscious, to the water, where Ellard probably

drowned her . . . and by dragging her and abandoning her near the

water, he was reckless as to whether death ensued. I find Warren

Glowatski guilty of second-degree murder as charged." 10

Warren was sentenced to life, and Suman watched as sheriffs removed him from the

courtroom.

A week later, Warren was escorted out of a co-ed juvenile custody

centre in Victoria. "I was strip-searched," Warren told me. "I got my 15

clothes back on. Got clinked up. Thrown in the back of a Correctional

Service van. They took me to the airport. From there, we got on a

'68 Cessna. It looked like it was going to fall apart, and it was driven

by an 80- year-old man who looked like he was about to have a

heart attack. I got dropped off at the Abbotsford airport and then driven to the prison. They 20

gave me an extra-extra-large jumpsuit. I looked like I was in kindergarten going to university.

They put me in the hole, segregation, because of overflow. It was scary as hell. I remember

crying in bed. I was scared of getting raped or killed. I was thinking, What did I get myself into?"

AFTER A WEEK OF TESTS Warren was assigned to Mission, a medium-security institution in the 25

Fraser Valley. His neighbours would be pedophiles, rapists and other convicted murderers. Yet

Warren chose to avoid the violence and drug culture endemic to prisons and to seek out

positive influences, a choice that was not out of character, according to those who know him

well. For Under the Bridge, my book about the Virk case, I interviewed dozens of people, and in

my conversations with Warren's teachers, ex-girlfriends, family members, fellow inmates and 30

guards, no one said a negative word about him.

Hope for Change 10 | P a g e

Through the volunteer programs offered at his prison, Warren met people like Liz Elliot, a

criminology professor from Simon Fraser University, and Larry Moore and Cathie Douglas, a

couple who facilitate a program called the Alternatives to Violence Project. "At first, he was 35

timid and shy," Moore recalls, "but he was a hard worker, and soon, he was volunteering to run

seminars and speak to at-risk teenagers."

During his incarceration, Warren grew closer to his father, who visited him from California, and

learned from his mother that he had Metis heritage, a discovery that provided him with a sense 40

of identity, something he'd previously gained by emulating the ruthless behaviour of gangster

rappers, young glamorous men he saw boasting of murder and guns on MuchMusic. Now, in

prison, he spoke with Native elders, and underlined Gandhi quotations in literature. "You must

be the change you wish to see in the world," he read.

45

How was it possible to "be the change" when he'd committed a brutal act and was despised by

most of society? This was where Restorative Justice came in. Influenced by Mennonite and

Native ways of handling crime, this increasingly popular approach offers an alternative to

shame and punishment and a path for a perpetrator who wants to change and make amends.

It's not an easy or simple process, as it encourages the offender to address the true reasons for 50

their harmful ways, and to, ultimately, meet face-to-face with their victim. In Warren's opinion,

it was the first time he was forced to "really look at what happened and how much I tore

people's lives apart."

When I visited him in 2002, he seemed more willing to accept 55

responsibility for his role in Reena's death. He acknowledged

that he had, in fact, not tried to stop Kelly from drowning Reena.

"I did my part," he said, and he spoke of the violence as a kind of

eruption: "That night I just went off. It was like a release." Of

what, I asked. "All the negative shit I was dealing with: my 60

parent's divorce, having nowhere to live, just totally feeling

Hope for Change 11 | P a g e

unloved for, uncared for, powerless. " A psychiatric report put this more clinically, stating that

Warren experienced "serious childhood trauma" which "determined his behavior at the time of

the incident in question." Occasionally other prisoners would offer Warren their take on the

crime. "I heard you were going out with Reena, and Kelly was jealous," they'd say. He'd heard 65

rumours he killed Reena because he'd been a skinhead and targeted her. Warren knew racism

or jealousy might make more sense to those who wanted an easy explanation, but in truth, the

killing rose from his own inchoate rage and was senseless, meaningless, undefendable.

In 2004, a turn of events involving Kelly Ellard, his co-accused, would test Warren's new ideals 70

of compassion and empathy. Kelly had been found guilty at trial in 1999, but a Court of Appeal

overturned her conviction, stating that she'd been improperly questioned by the Crown during

cross-examination. Warren had refused to testify at her trial, fearing inmates would see him as

a "rat" - the lowest of the low.

75

Now, the Crown was preparing for a second trial, and since Warren was the only eyewitness to

the murder, they needed him to testify. At the same time, prosecutors were not offering a deal

in exchange for his testimony. People whom Warren trusted told him, "You should do it for the

Virks. That will help them heal." Others warned him he'd be ripped apart by Kelly's lawyers, his

name would be back on the front pages, and he'd be threatened, even killed, if he co-operated 80

with the Crown. "I can't testify," he told me. "You think I want to walk around the rest of my life

worrying about getting beaten up by other inmates?” After many anxious months, though, he

told the prosecutor he'd reached a decision. He would testify, because, as he told the Crown, "I

feel I have an obligation to the Virk family."

85

In June 2004, Suman and Warren found themselves again, together, in a courtroom. She was

struck by the change in Warren. He was no longer a sullen teenager in baggy clothes, but an

articulate 22-year-old with neatly cropped hair and a sombre manner.

When he testified about her daughter's murder, he no longer said, 90

"I don't know. I didn't think." He admitted to feeling an "adrenaline

Hope for Change 12 | P a g e

rush" when he joined in the first fight. He admitted that he'd helped drag Reena to the shore,

that he'd lied about trying to stop Kelly, lied because, as he put it, "I was trying to keep myself

out of jail." He admitted, weeping, that he'd done nothing as Kelly held Reena's head under

water, as Reena struggled, as Kelly held her down until she died. "I think having him admit his 95

guilt was the biggest thing for me," Suman says. "Just to hear him acknowledge what he'd

done."

By contrast, Kelly continued to deny any role in the murder. She denied ever crossing the

bridge. She denied that she had told friends she had smoked a cigarette while holding Reena's 100

head underwater and that she was "happy" Reena was dead. Though witnesses testified to

seeing her with wet pants on the night of the murder, she denied ever having gone into the

water, even when confronted with the fact that salt stains on her Calvin Klein jacket matched

water samples taken from the Gorge. She asked the

court for anti-anxiety medication and kicked a guard 105

who caught her smuggling makeup in her bra. "My life

is ruined," she wailed at the prosecutor. "I did not kill

Reena Virk and I will repeat it and repeat it and I will

stick with that until the day I die! " she screamed

defiantly. 110

A mistrial was declared because a single juror chose not to convict. A third trial was held in

2005, and this time KeDy was found guilty and given a life sentence, a verdict which offered a

promise of closure for Suman and her family. Eight very long years had passed, years in which

she'd never heard a word of apology from any of Reena's eight attackers. Now, she thought, 115

she could finally put their faces out of her mind, and get back to raising her own children, taking

care of her own family.

excerpt from MURDER and Mercy 120

Rebecca Godfrey. Chatelaine. (English edition). Toronto: Jan 2007. Vol. 80, Iss. 1; pg. 69, 7 pgs