ABBOTSFORD — Twenty years after the murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk, Kelly Ellard has been granted six months of day parole.
Ellard, now 35 and a mother, will be released directly from the Fraser Valley Institution for Women to a residential treatment substance-abuse program. After successfully completing the treatment program, she will be able to live at a halfway house with her young son for the remainder of the six months.
It’s not known how long Ellard will remain at the treatment centre or whether the baby can live with her there. After six months, the parole board will review the decision.
“It goes without saying you committed a heinous crime and you were largely responsible for the death of Reena Virk,” parole board member Colleen Zuk said Thursday. “What’s very problematic is your years of deception and lying about the facts.”
Ellard continues to “somewhat minimize” her involvement in killing Reena, although she is more transparent now than in the past, Zuk noted.
At Thursday’s hearing, Ellard, wearing a grey sweater and gold hoop earrings, her blond hair in a ponytail, admitted she helped to plan a confrontation near the Craigflower Bridge on the night of Nov. 14, 1997, that she was willing to use violence that night and she “intended to get rid of Reena” when the situation became critical.
“You agreed you were callous and that’s the most you’ve accepted in terms of accountability and responsibility,” Zuk said.
Zuk said she was concerned about Ellard’s relationship with the father of her child. The man has served a lengthy prison sentence.
“That is potentially a high-risk situation,” Zuk said.
Ellard’s parole officer told the hearing that Ellard is an attentive and caring mother and has successfully completed 40 escorted temporary absences, taking the child to parenting classes. The officer, whose name was not given to the media, said that there is also a release plan underway for the father.
“We will be working with the other parole officers on a plan to allow them to co-parent in the community.”
Sitting with her back to the media, Ellard said her priority was her child and her release plan, not the relationship. She said she wants to support the man emotionally and help him make the right decisions, but she needs to keep herself safe to be a good parent.
“As much as I love him, if I have to let him go to be a good parent to my child, I have to.”
Ellard told the board members that she has made good progress with her ongoing trauma counselling and dialectical behavioural therapy. Her son is very healthy, she said, and she has been better able to cope with her anxiety.
If someone looked at her in the past, Ellard said, she would assume they were judging her. “There’s a sign flashing above my head saying I’m a monster.” She started to cry, but said she knows how to distract herself from those troubling thoughts.
The two members of the parole board repeatedly grilled Ellard on her involvement in Reena’s murder.
Ellard, who was 15 at the time of the killing, still disputes the version of events given by her co-accused, Warren Glowatski, who said she held Reena’s arms back and held her head under the water.
Ellard said she had been told by a friend that Reena had stolen her phonebook and was calling people, trying to get them to beat up the friend.
When Reena showed up under the bridge, Ellard started the fight by punching Reena. Several people jumped on her within a minutes, Ellard said. One girl told them to stop.
“Reena was on the ground and seriously, seriously hurt,” Ellard said. “I recall Reena was trying to get up, still sitting on the ground. Others were going through her bag.”
As Reena left, stumbling across the bridge, she said: “You guys aren’t going to get away with this,” Ellard recalled.
Ellard told Glowatski to make sure Reena didn’t rat them out.
When the two teenagers returned to the other side of the bridge and she saw how badly beaten Reena was, “I thought the world was ending,” Ellard said.
“The person helped me bring her to the water. I rolled her in and left her there. The other person didn’t want to leave her. I know I had the opportunity to take it back and get help, but we just walked away…
“I had never seen anything like that. Either she’s dead or she’s going to die, anyway. I just wanted to get rid of her.”
Trying to control the situation made it much worse, she said. “I was so ignorant, a child, to think I could get away with it.”
Ellard said she did not intend for Reena to die.
“When did your intentions change?” Zuk asked.
“When she said: ‘You’re not going to get away with it,’ ” Ellard said. “But my intentions were not for her to die.”
Ellard said the situation didn’t seem real and she felt panic.
Asked who was responsible for Reena’s death, Ellard replied: “I am.”
“So how are you responsible for her death?” asked board member Linda Cross.
“She drowned and I put her in the water.”
In her final statement to the parole board, Ellard apologized, saying there was nothing particular about Reena that she and others didn’t like.
“There’s nothing she possibly could have said or done to deserve such treatment,” Ellard said. “She did not deserve it. It was not about her. It could have been anyone. She should have been with her family who loved her, not out with us that night.
“And I’m very sorry.”
During her release, Ellard must participate in one-on-one psychological counselling to address her personal and emotional issues. She must also continue to work on the recommendations of a 2016 psychological report.
Zuk said Ellard’s drug use in prison until June 2015 is a concern for the parole board.
Ellard acknowledged the problem in her release plan, telling the board she wanted to pursue day treatment for substance abuse if released. Ellard said she was willing to do residential treatment, which was part of her first bid for day parole in 2016, but didn’t think it was necessary. She explained she abused drugs in prison because of her feelings of loss, hopelessness and boredom.
Her parole officer supported her bid for day parole, saying she believed Ellard’s risk to public safety could be managed in the community with structural supports and a release plan.
The officer has worked with Ellard for eight years.
“I’ve seen her at her worst, and I’ve now seen her at her best,” she said.
Ellard is prohibited from consuming alcohol or non-prescription drugs. She must have no contact with any member of Reena’s family and not associate with anyone involved in criminal activity or using drugs.
