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Young killer gets chance at freedom

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 02/25/2010 3:36 PM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

One of Winnipeg's youngest killers is getting another shot at freedom.

The 16-year-old girl -- who was 12 when she participated in the October 2006 killing of Audrey Cooper -- was released from jail Thursday afternoon despite recently running away from her court-ordered treatment centre.

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Queen’s Bench Chief Justice Marc Monnin rejected the Crown’s bid to have the girl kept behind bars until she turns 18 but warned this will be her final chance. He noted her probation officer believes she has "learned her lesson."

"She believes she has a genuine willingness to make this work," said Monnin.

The teen was sentenced last year to the maximum three-year sentence under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for her role in Cooper’s death. Queen's Bench Justice Deborah McCawley assigned her seven 1/2 months of pre-trial custody as credit, then filled out the rest of the term with 28 1/2 months of community supervision, which takes the girl to her 18th birthday.

She was ordered to live at a local group home under 24-hour supervision until she is no longer a youth. She was warned that any breaches means the rest of her sentence could be converted to jail time.

The girl fled the facility on three different occasions, the final time happening in October when she was caught hiding in a closet at her parent’s home, court was told. She has spent the past four months in custody.

Defence lawyer Darren Sawchuk told court the group home is supporting her release from jail and has a bed available for her. They plan to tighten supervision of his client and limit her contact with her family, who raised her in a climate of abuse and neglect which included being taught how to snort cocaine by her mother.

Cooper was a random target. She was beaten until she was unrecognizable, stripped and then urinated on by a group of laughing teens who tossed loose change on her body as they fled.

"That's all she's worth," one of them later told police.

Cooper, 34, suffered 64 separate injuries in the unprovoked attack, including seven broken ribs, a lacerated liver, swelling that shut both of her eyes and bleeding on the brain. Police arrested four suspects -- the 12-year-old girl, two 14-year-old girls and a 15-year-old boy. Three of the suspects remain before the courts.

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