Reena Virk’s grandparents heard Tuesday, for the first time, that Kelly Ellard had taken some responsibility for the murder in 1997 of their beloved granddaughter.
Ellard made her confession at a parole board hearing in Abbotsford, near where she is serving a life sentence at Fraser Valley Institution. But admitting guilt wasn’t enough to earn her day parole. The board said it was not convinced Ellard is ready to be released into the community. “She still seems to be minimizing many aspects of the offence,” said parole board regional spokesman Patrick Storey.
Reena’s grandfather, Mukand Pallan, 86, was opposed to Ellard’s release.
But hearing of the confession made him feel better, he said. “This was the first time they asked her if she was responsible for Reena’s death. She said ‘Yes.’ And she’s never admitted it before. … At least she admitted she did it and she’s responsible for it. But she’s still never said she’s sorry.
“I will try to move on. It’s still hard. But I feel much better hearing that she admitted it, that it’s her fault. And this will heal the wounds,” he said.
The next time Ellard will be allowed to ask for full parole is February next year.
Reena’s grandmother, Tarsen Pallan, said it has been an emotional time. “Reena was a sweetie. She was a beautiful thing and she stayed with us a little bit. We have good memories. Reena is sleeping. She is at peace.
“Now Kelly admitted it and she will be at peace, too. She was young and foolish. The boy was with them and the other girls were with her. They supported each other and they didn’t know enough what was right and what was wrong. If she decides to walk on the right road, maybe she will have a good life.”
It took Ellard a long time — almost 19 years — to admit her guilt. But maybe now she will have a clear conscience, said Tarsen. “Maybe she will not do anything harsh like that again. We can hope and pray for her,” Tarsen said.
Reena’s parents, Manjit and Suman, have taken a vacation to avoid media attention, Mukand Pallan said.
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 also overturned on appeal. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Canada reinstated her conviction for second-degree murder.
On Tuesday, asking for parole for the first time, Ellard told a two-member panel she had “omitted” details about Reena Virk’s death from her testimony during trial.
She admitted that if she hadn’t participated in the attack, Reena would probably be alive today.
When a board member asked who was responsible for Reena’s death, Ellard replied, “I believe I am.”
In delivering the board’s decision, a member commended her for accepting more responsibility but noted her admission did not match the facts of her conviction.
“I was 15 years old. I was a child,” Ellard told the board, stressing her key priority for release is to obtain substance-abuse treatment. “I’m not that child anymore.”
In November 1997, Ellard and a crowd of mostly girls swarmed Reena, who was 14, under the Craigflower Bridge in Saanich. After the beating, Reena limped across the bridge, followed by Ellard and Warren 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.
But during the parole hearing, Ellard disputed that account and provided her version of the final moments of Reena’s life.
After Reena was swarmed and beaten by the group, Ellard split off with Glowatski and the two went over to Reena, who was near the water’s edge, she said.
Ellard flicked a lighter to see Reena’s face and observed the girl was covered in blood. She asked Glowatski to help her bring Reena closer to the water and began to splash her face, she said, but saw Reena did not react.
Glowatski was drunk, she said, but he suggested they flag down a car for help — a request Ellard said she refused.
“I was only thinking of myself,” she said, describing the decision as panicked and impulsive based on the perceived consequences.
“I pushed her in. It’s like almost I just thought in my mind, it would just carry the problem away.”
Ellard, who occasionally cried during her statements, denied holding Reena’s head under water.
“She was unconscious. I didn’t need to hold her head under water. There would have been no point,” she said.
Ellard told the board she decided to be truthful based on “soul-searching” over the past two years, in part prompted by a conversation with her mother.
She took advantage of Glowatski, she said, adding that she didn’t think he would have made the choice on his own to let Reena drown.
Glowatski, who was also convicted of second-degree murder, was given full parole in 2010.
Ellard said she wrote a private letter to Reena’s family about four years ago and asked to speak to them face-to-face but was rebuffed.
She said saying sorry is not good enough and she believes “success and redemption” can only occur through re-entering the community.
“I want a chance to go out there and grow to be the best person I can be.”
But Ellard was not supported in her bid for freedom, and her parole officer discouraged the board from granting day parole based on factors that included her substance-abuse troubles and deflection of blame for her actions.
The now 33-year-old Ellard wore a blue blouse and her hair, dyed blond, was pinned up as she replied articulately to the panel.
She told the board that for about one year, she binged on contraband crystal meth inside prison, but her last drug use was in June 2015.
Ellard was given a chance to make a last statement to the board.
“I’ve done everything and then some. Enough is enough,” she said.
“It’s time for this to be done.”
She believes there’s nothing left for her in prison to assist her progress, she said.
But it was her own words that cemented the parole board’s decision.
While the board emphasized the progress Ellard had made in accepting responsibility for the murder, member Ian MacKenzie said she came across as “very entitled” in presenting her case for release.
“It’s not speaking from your heart,” MacKenzie said.
“It’s speaking from what is most strategic and beneficial to you.”
