A teenage girl who has pled guilty to manslaughter in connection with the alleged swarming death of a homeless Toronto man is now seeking a reduced sentence after revealing that she was subjected to multiple strip searches while in custody.
An agreed statement of facts regarding the strip searches was presented in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on Aug. 28 during the teenager’s sentencing hearing, which is scheduled to continue in September.
The court heard that the girl, who was 13 at the time, was forced to strip naked on four occasions while detained at a facility in Kingston, Ontario, in the weeks following her arrest.
Additionally, she was made to undress twice at a facility in London, Ontario, earlier this year while in custody on an unrelated assault charge. She has since admitted guilt to the assault charge, as per court records.
According to the document, the searches were standard procedure each time the girl returned from a family visit, court appearance, or arrived at a facility.
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From 2006 until January of this year, the Kingston facility had a written policy in place that required youth to be completely undressed for searches, according to the document. The court heard that the London facility’s written policy did not include such a requirement but that two staff members “misunderstood.”
The ministry stated that the current regulations under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act lacked detailed procedures for certain types of searches, such as strip searches of young individuals. Formalizing these regulatory requirements would establish consistency and transparency in how such searches are carried out.
In court testimony, the teen disclosed that she has battled body image issues since childhood and continues to feel ashamed about the strip searches.
“It was humiliating… It made me feel really bad about myself,” she expressed to the court, mentioning that she has sought counseling to cope with her ordeal.
The remaining four teens are scheduled to stand trial in Ontario Superior Court next year, with three facing charges of second-degree murder and one of manslaughter.
As per the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the identities of the accused minors cannot be disclosed.
This article includes contributions from The Canadian Press.
Please rewrite the following sentence:
Original: “The new policy will go into effect starting next month.”
Rewritten: “The new policy is set to take effect at the beginning of the following month.”
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