TORONTO — Prosecutors have identified a teen girl they allege inflicted the fatal wound on a homeless man who was beaten and stabbed in an alleged group attack in downtown Toronto two years ago.
A trial began Monday for two of the eight girls charged in the alleged swarming of Kenneth Lee, with the Crown alleging the younger of the two — who was on the verge of turning 15 at the time of the incident — dealt the blow that caused Lee's death.
Both girls pleaded not guilty Monday to second-degree murder. The younger girl pleaded guilty through her lawyer to the lesser charge of manslaughter, but the plea was rejected by the prosecution.
The trial is proceeding on a charge of second-degree murder for each girl and is being heard by a judge alone.
Court heard Lee, 59, died on the operating table at St. Michael's Hospital in December 2022 after he was beaten and stabbed at a parkette near Toronto's Union Station.
Prosecutors said there is surveillance footage from the parkette and from some of the other locations the girls visited throughout the evening.
Eight girls between the ages of 13 and 16 were arrested at Toronto's SickKids hospital in the hours that followed the incident.
The case splintered last year after three of the girls pleaded guilty to manslaughter and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. Those four have all been sentenced to probation of various lengths with no further time in custody.
The trial that began Monday in Ontario Superior Court is expected to last two weeks or more.
A jury trial is scheduled in May for the remaining two girls, one for second-degree murder and the other for manslaughter.
None of the teens can be identified because they were underage at the time of the alleged swarming.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.
The Canadian Press
