Kelly Ellard is expected to appear before the Parole Board of Canada today to apply to spend supervised time outside the institution with her infant son.
Last month, Ellard, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk in November 1997, applied for 15 escorted temporary absences from the Fraser Valley Institution for parental responsibilities.
Parole board spokesman Patrick Storey said Ellard applied to leave the institution five times a month, for up to four hours each time, over a 90-day period.
"She wanted to be able to go to public health to get her baby immunized and go to the doctor's office to have the baby's check-ups. There were also some escorted temporary absences for socializing, taking a parenting program, perhaps some mum-and-baby activities," Storey explained in January.
At her previous hearing on Jan. 18, two Parole Board of Canada members could not agree on whether Ellard, should be granted escorted temporary absences to deepen her relationship with her new baby. Two new board members will go through the process again today beginning at 1 p.m.
Ellard, 34, has spent more than half her life in prison. She was 15 when she and six other girls and Warren Glowatski, 16, swarmed Reena under the Craigflower Bridge. After the beating, Reena limped across the bridge, followed by Ellard and Glowatski. Prosecutors said that the pair then continued the beating on the shore of the Gorge Waterway and held Reena's head underwater until she drowned.
Six girls were convicted of assault causing bodily harm to Reena and sentenced to up to one year in custody. Glowatski, who was convicted of second-degree murder, was released on full parole in 2010 after offering an apology to Virk’s parents.
Ellard was convicted of second-degree murder in 2000, but the decision was overturned on appeal. Her second trial ended in a hung jury. In 2005, a third jury found her guilty, but that conviction was overturned on appeal. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada reinstated her conviction for second-degree murder.
Ellard became pregnant last year after having conjugal visits with her boyfriend Darwin Dorozan. The 42-year-old is also in prison. Dorozan is serving a seven-year, two-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 11 counts of break and enter and break and enter with intent. Dorozan broke into several homes in 2010 and 2011 to steal things to finance a heroin addiction, the board noted. He had his parole revoked after Correctional Service of Canada officials became aware he is a "person of interest" in the May 2016 disappearance of a low-level drug dealer.
At her last hearing, Ellard told the board she sees the world through different eyes after becoming a mother. She said she needed to bond with her baby, adding she has “big plans for their future and wants to start now.
“It’s kind of amazing how much this child has calmed me,” she said before breaking down in tears. “It’s the best therapy I could have hoped for.”
Board member Kim Polowek told Ellard she was concerned about her relationship with the baby’s father. Ellard responded that the pair had a special pact to rely on each other to avoid drugs or crime. She said it was more motivating to be with someone with a criminal past, rather than a person who “hasn’t been through it.”
Ellard avoided discussing the breach the man is alleged to have committed, but said recent events were “very disappointing” to her.
At a hearing last May, when her request for day parole was rejected, Ellard took responsibility for the death of Reena after repeatedly denying she was involved, but said at the time of the killing she was a child herself at just 15 years old.
Polowek said she was concerned about the “many varying versions of events” Ellard had provided over the years. Her file is filled with examples of “sneakiness or manipulation,” in which she denied incidents or refused to take full responsibility, the board member said.
“I wonder: Is there more to come?” she asked.
Ellard said there was not, adding that she had told only one other version of Reena's death, in which she denied drowning her.
She said that she and Glowatski followed Virk and found her unconscious. Ellard flicked on a lighter to see Virk’s face, which was covered with blood, mud and matted hair.
She began to shake and cry as she described the image.
“It’s not something you forget,” she said.
Ellard said she splashed water on Reena's face to try to wake her, but she did not react. Glowatski suggested they get help, but Ellard refused and pushed Reena into the water, she said.
She said it was an act of “self-preservation.”
“I sort of panicked. It’s like sweeping something bad you’ve done under the rug.”
Ellard denied holding Reena's head under the water.
“She was unconscious,” Ellard said. “There was no need for that.”
Ellard said it took her a long time to share the truth, in part because she thought her admission might cause Glowatski more trouble.
“I felt very guilty,” she said. “I know that he’s done a lot to change his life.”
Ellard added that she felt every time the story changed, it caused Virk’s family more pain.
“I don’t feel like ‘sorry’ is good enough. Their life has been completely ruined,” she said. “I wish there was something I could do to make it better.”
Throughout the hearing, Ellard stressed that while she used to think only of herself, she now understands the consequences of her actions on others.
She said she is undergoing therapy to deal with her anxiety and anger issues, and that she has not used substances since June 2015, when she failed a drug test.
