Convicted killer Kelly Ellard was released on day parole last week with new conditions after she was returned to custody in August for failing to report intimate-partner violence.
Ellard, who now goes by the name Kerry Marie Sim, was convicted of murdering Victoria teenager Reena Virk in November 1997. Sim, now 39 and a mother of two, is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder.
On Oct. 28, the Parole Board of Canada reviewed her case to make a decision about the suspension of her day parole.
Sim was granted day parole in November 2017 and that has been continued seven times.
In 2020, Sim was allowed to live away from a residential facility for up to five days each week. However, in July the parole board noted Sim and her partner had financial problems because he had lost his job and their relationship was “strained.”
The board’s most recent decision, released Thursday, says the stress of motherhood and maintaining a household was affecting Sim. On July 21, when Sim met with her parole officer she was no longer allowed to see her partner in face-to-face contact, says the decision. She was emotional and crying. When asked if she has been physically abused by her spouse, Sim said no, but admitted they had argued. Sim said a stroller had been pushed at her which caused a laceration to her eyebrow. She told the parole officer she was sometimes away from the residential facility for eight hours on her own — a practice her parole officer told her was risky for her.
“You abruptly reacted in a very defensive and combative manner. You stood with clenched fists and you verbalized that you were following your conditions. You sat back down and tried to pull your hair and continued to cry,” the board said.
On Aug. 12, someone reported that both were violent to each other. Sim’s partner denied being violent and said she had never hurt him. It was reported that Sim had pushed, shoved, slapped and yelled at him.
Sim was apprehended, as her risk was found to be no longer manageable in the community.
Back in custody, in a post-suspension interview, Sim admitted the eyebrow laceration was a result of her partner’s violence.
“You said that he punched your head repeatedly, resulting in a cut that required a hospital visit. You said that you didn’t tell the truth because you didn’t want him to get into trouble,” the board said, adding that she purposefully made a decision to remain in a high-risk environment putting herself and her children at risk.
Sim’s case management team reported that despite her manipulative behaviour, bordering on self-sabotage, she has shown resiliency and determination to succeed in the community.
“It is believed that you have the skills necessary to overcome the barriers you will be facing once you are released back to the community,” the board said, noting that she had taken time to address the concerns related to her suspension and her poor attitude and behaviour.
Sim is being released to a community residential facility which will provide structure, support and supervision to help with her return to the community, it said.
Her new conditions include immediately reporting all sexual and non-sexual relationships and friendships and any changes in these relationships. She must have no contact with her spouse without supervision or written consent from her parole officer and she must follow psychiatric treatment to address anxiety and mental health issues.
Sim was 15 when she and a group of teens beat Reena 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.
