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More damaging testimony made in Virk case

A P Kamath

A teenaged girl, who was convicted last year for beating Reena Virk, swore under oath in a Vancouver court on Monday that her former friend, Kelly Ellard, was "happy and even proud" that she had killed Reena.

Reena Virk was attacked twice within an hour. After the first attack by a handful of her schoolmates was over, Ellard and a boy stayed back, and beat up Virk again.

Ellard is accused of holding Virk's head under water. She has denied the charges.

The friend, whose name cannot be disclosed as per a court order, said Ellard called her on November 15, 1997, the day after Virk, 14, had been drowned.

Ellard, who turned 15 shortly before Virk's death, is the last of eight teens to go to trial. She is tried as an adult and faces a second-degree murder charge. The trial began March 9 and is expected to conclude by the first week of April, if not sooner.

"Who was the most aggressive of those people?" Crown counsel Ruth Picha asked the teen, referring to eight girls and a boy in the group who had decided to beat Virk because they considered her "odd" and "eccentric".

"Kelly,'' the girl replied in a trembling voice.

She also said Ellard told her she and Warren Glowatski, who has already been convicted in Virk's death, caught up with Virk who was going home. Though she had been estranged from her parents, Virk called her home to say that she was coming home for the night. But she did not. And her body was found in the water eight days later.

Ellard told the girl that Virk had tried to punch her. So she (Ellard) had smashed her head against a tree.

"She dragged her (Virk) to the water and twisted her arm," the teen continued. "She said she had broken (Virk's) arms and her legs and she had her under water."

Reena Virk weighed nearly 200 pounds. She had been staying out of her house following constant fights with her parents, who say she resented their disciplinary attitude.

Ellard told her she held her under "about half an hour, until she stopped breathing".

The case has made national headlines and focuses concern on violence among girls.

EARLIER REPORT:
Reena's mother recalls girl's last day

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