Girl accused in death of homeless man seen holding sharp object, Crown alleges

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This article was published 04/02/2025 (305 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – A teen girl accused of fatally wounding a homeless Toronto man in a group attack two years ago can be seen holding a sharp object in surveillance footage of the incident, prosecutors told an Ontario court Tuesday.

Court has heard Kenneth Lee died in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2022 after he was beaten and stabbed at a downtown Toronto parkette.

Eight girls between the ages of 13 and 16 were arrested and charged shortly after his death. Two of them are currently on trial and have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

The younger girl, who was 14 at the time of the incident, tried to plead guilty through her lawyer to the lesser charge of manslaughter as the trial began Monday, but that plea was rejected by the Crown.

The incident was captured on security video. In the footage, a group swarms Lee moments after crossing paths with him, with some appearing to punch, kick and swing bags or other objects at him as the fight peters out and erupts again in various areas of the parkette.

The detective leading the investigation testified Tuesday that at one point, the youngest of the two girls on trial is seen holding an object in her right hand as she approaches Lee in the melee.

Toronto police Det. Rodney Benson told the court he couldn’t identify the item, but prosecutors allege the girl is holding a “sharp object.”

The Crown alleges that girl delivered the blow that led to Lee’s death but has not yet specified when or with what.

Earlier in the video, the girl appears to spit at Lee, then squats to pick up what Benson described as nail scissors off the ground. Two small pairs of scissors and a pair of tweezers were found on the girl when she was arrested hours later, the detective said.

At another point in the video, the older of the two girls, who was 16 at the time, throws a traffic cone at Lee then picks it up and repeatedly swings it at him.

A group of teens including the accused first gathered earlier in the evening at Toronto’s Yorkdale mall, court heard Tuesday. Videos shot at the mall were found on the younger girl’s cellphone and shown in court.

Court also watched Tuesday video of the group on a bus in the hours leading up to the incident at the parkette. In that video, someone mentions going to the LCBO before the group gets off the bus.

The trial is taking place before a judge alone and is expected to last roughly two weeks.

Three other girls charged in Lee’s death pleaded guilty last year to manslaughter and one to assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon. Those four have been sentenced to probation with conditions.

The remaining two girls are set to face trial by jury in May on charges of second-degree murder and manslaughter, respectively. The case was split into two trials for scheduling reasons.

None of the teens can be identified because they were minors at the time of the incident. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 4, 2025.