Enough is enough, says Supreme Court, and upholds conviction in Reena Virk’s murder
There will be no fourth trial in the long-running case of Kelly Ellard, who was convicted of second-degree murder for her role in the 1997 swarming death of Victoria teenager Reena Virk. The Supreme Court of Canada has upheld the 2005 decision, which had been called into question by the B.C. Court of Appeal over concerns on how the jury was instructed. Thus ends one of the greatest sagas in Canadian legal history. Ellard’s conviction came after a previous conviction was overturned on appeal, and a second trial resulted in a hung jury. She was 15 at the time of the homicide, in which a group of teenagers attacked and stomped 14-year-old Virk, leaving her in the water under a bridge near Saanich, B.C. At 27, Ellard must now begin a life sentence with no chance of parole for seven years.