The woman convicted of murdering teenager Reena Virk near Victoria 24 years ago will be allowed to continue her day parole.
The Parole Board of Canada has released another ruling on Kelly Ellard, who now goes by the name of Kerry Sim.
Sim, 38, is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the “senseless,” “brutal swarming” and drowning of Virk.
Her day parole was expanded last year to allow her to live away from a residential facility for up to five days each week and the parole board is continuing that order for another six months.
The parole board says her behaviour in federal custody improved over time. She became pregnant in 2016 during a private family visit. She had another child with the same partner, who is a former federal offender, in 2019.
The parole board noted in its decision Thursday that there are financial problems at home because her partner has lost his job and is struggling with drug problems.
Earlier reports described him as “a positive support” and the relationship was considered stable, but it is now considered “strained,” according to the parole board.
While they remain living together and are trying to “work it out,” the board notes Sim is under increased stress and anxiety and as a result, has been re-referred to the self-management program.
Although the board has concerns about her stress and her spouse’s drug problems, it concluded that because she remains sober and continues to demonstrate “satisfactory stability as a mother,” day parole will be continued with conditions.
The conditions include participating in one-to-one counselling to address risk-related issues of anxiety, and not consuming, purchasing or possessing alcohol or drugs other than prescription medication.
Sim was 15 when she and a group of teens beat Virk in 1997, before she and an accomplice followed the injured girl, beat her again and drowned her in the Gorge Waterway.
She was tried as an adult and had three second-degree murder trials before 2009, when the matter was addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada and her life sentence for Virk’s murder was upheld.
The judge who sentenced Sim in 2005 referred to the “senseless, virtually remorseless barbarity of the crime” and described the murder as a prolonged and brutal swarming of a defenceless victim.
— With a file from The Canadian Press
