TORONTO — A teen girl who pleaded guilty to assault in the fatal swarming of a homeless Toronto man was sentenced Tuesday to nine months of probation, with the judge taking into account the time she has already spent in custody and under house arrest.
The girl was set to face trial for manslaughter in the death of 59-year-old Kenneth Lee when she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge last month.
Superior Court Justice Philip Campbell found that although the girl, who was 16 at the time, was initially "verbally and physically aggressive" toward Lee, she was not present as the violence escalated and her overall participation in the alleged group attack was "relatively low."
Court has heard that Lee was in a downtown Toronto parkette in December 2022 with a friend when they encountered a group at around midnight.
An agreed statement of facts previously read in court said the girl witnessed others hitting, kicking and stomping on Lee, threw a small object at him and filmed his bloodied face while others yelled and spat at him.
The girl then left the parkette while the attack was still underway and returned about two minutes after it ended, only to find the group had taken off, court has heard.
A shelter worker asked her to flag down an ambulance, which she did before leaving to find the group, court heard. Paramedics took Lee to St. Michael's Hospital, where he died in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2022.
The judge noted that the girl was under no pressure or obligation to flag down the ambulance for Lee, but she walked into traffic to do so.
"This was the first help he received," Campbell said Tuesday.
The Crown had asked the judge to sentence the girl to 50 days of community supervision, followed by 12 months of probation, while the defence argued that she should get a reprimand or an absolute discharge.
Prosecutor Sarah De Filippis argued in her sentencing submissions that even though the girl was much less involved in the attack than her co-accused, she still must be held accountable for her actions.
"It appears that she has some insight into why she was involved in this incident," De Filippis said, but argued the girl has shown "no insight" into the kind of harm it caused.
The Crown attorney also said the girl was engaged in an "unprovoked attack" on two women on Toronto's subway system earlier that night, which she argued demonstrates that the teen's involvement in the assault on Lee was "not a one-time error in judgment."
The girl's defence lawyer, however, said that earlier incident merely involved "hair pulling" and did not result in any serious harm.
Daisy Bygrave argued that while her client showed "poor judgment" the night Lee was attacked, her actions were "consistent with youthful, ignorant behaviour" and did not merit any further involvement of the justice system.
Bygrave stressed that surveillance video of the attack in the parkette shows the girl was not present in the crucial moments when Lee is alleged to have sustained his fatal injury.
After spending time in custody – where she endured strip searches – and living under very strict bail conditions that involved constant police checks, the girl should not have to "suffer more," Bygrave told the judge.
She said that her client, who is now 18, is finally on track to graduate from high school in June and is hoping to attend college. She noted that the girl has the support of her "disciplinarian" mother, who was present in court on Tuesday.
The judge agreed that "finality of court proceedings" is in the girl's best interest but said a period of supervision is still needed to ensure she's on the right track.
He noted that the strip searches the girl endured while in secure custody were a major mitigating factor.
The girl spent 44 days in secure custody – some of them because her mother twice revoked her surety in what the defence suggested were acts of tough love – and has been either under house arrest or other constraints ever since, court heard.
In that time, the teen has achieved "a good deal of self-awareness," Campbell said. "She has absorbed these lessons."
Police arrested eight girls between the ages of 13 and 16 in the hours after the incident in the parkette and charged them with second-degree murder.
In total, seven have pleaded guilty to lesser charges – five to manslaughter, one to assault and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
One girl is awaiting a verdict later this month after concluding a judge-alone trial. She tried to plead guilty to manslaughter but her plea was rejected by the Crown.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.
Sonja Puzic, The Canadian Press
