Kelly Ellard, convicted of second-degree murder in the 1997 beating and drowning death of 14-year-old Reena Virk, has had a second child while on day parole, according to a Parole Board of Canada document.
The board made a decision to extend Ellard’s day parole for another six months, allowing her to spend four nights a week outside her community-based residential facility. The board stated that Ellard, who now uses the name Kerry Marie Sims, and her partner rent a home and that she has a job.
In the parole board’s day-parole decision released on Wednesday, it was stated: “While your partner, who is an offender who has completed his sentence, was re-incarcerated you demonstrated maturity and persisted in the goals you had for yourself and your first born. You have had a second child, are in the same relationship, are employed and are assessed as making continued progress.”
The partner the board was referring to is low-level former gangster Darwin Dorozan — who was a pen pal of Ellard while the pair were in jail.
Ellard was one of two teenagers convicted in the brutal slaying of Virk under a bridge in Victoria in 1997. She was convicted in 2000, but a new trial was ordered. A second trial resulted in a hung jury.
Ellard was found guilty of second-degree murder after a third trial (a decision upheld after a 2009 Supreme Court of Canada appeal) and given a life sentence with parole eligibility set at seven years. Her sentence began in July 2005.
“The board notes that a therapy report on file from December 2018 indicated that you had continued to mature and that you had demonstrated stability and progress,” the decision states.
“This report referenced some of the challenges you were then experiencing as a single parent but indicated that, overall, parenthood had a positive impact on you. While on (day parole) you gave birth to a second child. Updated file information indicates that your intimate partner (father of your children) has served his federal sentence, is now in the community, is employed and supporting the family,” the board wrote.
Ellard was first granted day parole in November 2017.
The board noted that if Ellard associated with anyone involved in illegal activity or substance abuse, she will lose her parole privileges.
