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Toronto Star
5 days ago
- Toronto Star
‘Somebody was stabbed and he's dead': Unheard testimony and video footage from the girl swarm case
'I put my arm up, the knife went in.' Everyone had waited for this, to hear what the 16-year-old boy would say on the witness stand. This wasn't the trial for the girl accused of stabbing and killing Kenneth Lee, but instead the preliminary hearing, a kind of dress rehearsal involving all eight of the girls and their lawyers a year earlier. This is where legal issues — including whether the girls should stand trial — got ironed out. The boy had never agreed to speak to police. So, his testimony, seven days into the hearing, was a discovery of what he knew and what he would say at trial. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW He would never be called to testify at the Superior Court of Justice at the only trial that would go ahead — not once the Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers learned what he had to say. The girls had been drinking and smoking weed that night and were not acting like themselves, he said, which could have hurt the Crown's case that the girl intentionally harmed Lee. And, the boy said — unhelpfully for her defence — the girl who was accused of stabbing Lee, had a knife that injured him during a play fight, after the swarming attack. 'Your daughter's been arrested for murder': How a mother learned about her teen's role in Kenneth Lee's killing That testimony has, until now, been under a publication ban. On Friday, Justice Philip Campbell found the girl prosecutors tried to pin Lee's stabbing on not-guilty of murder, saying there was reasonable doubt she fatally wounded him. The decision brings to a close the prosecution against eight teen girls, ages 13 to 16 at the time, who were part of the swarming attack. But with none of them guilty of murder, the question remains: Who stabbed Kenneth Lee? This story details never before publicized evidence — how the girls themselves initially blamed one amongst them for the stabbing; how one of their friends testified that he himself was accidentally stabbed; and how a police interview unfolded with the accused stabber, one that was never admitted at trial. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW None of the young people can be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Kenneth Lee was visiting the parkette with a friend when their paths crossed with the girls, who swarmed him and at least one of whom stabbed him. Toronto Police Service In May 2024, the teen boy, under oath, said he'd known the girls he was hanging out with that night for a couple of months. He identified himself in video surveillance footage with them throughout the night of Dec. 17 and early morning hours of Dec. 18, 2022, following Lee's death. First, he was captured on the Yorkdale station subway platform where he and several girls could be seen chasing each other, playfully, up and down the tunnel. He was asked to identify what two of the girls could be seen holding: 'A knife,' he said. The court heard earlier this month, when one of the girls pleaded guilty to manslaughter, that she threw that knife onto the subway tracks 'because she didn't want anything dangerous to happen.' That fact was entered as part of an agreed statement that the Crown said they could neither prove nor disprove. Following the attack on Lee, video footage shown at the preliminary hearing showed the group of teens continued to loiter downtown, in an office lobby on Bay Street and outside, taking videos of themselves laughing and dancing. The girl accused of stabbing Lee, in one video, mimics stomping motions towards the cellphone camera, with what looks to be red blood stains visible on her grey sweatpants. Video surveillance footage of the attack on Lee shows the girl jumping with both feet and appearing to stomp on Lee as he is backed into a concrete planter in the parkette. Just over an hour after the attack on Lee, shortly after 1 a.m., the teens returned to Union Station where some of them began play fighting outside, the boy recounted when asked to review surveillance footage of the moment in court. It was hard to see exactly what happens from the video angle, but at one point the boy can be seen in the video bent over as the girls gather around him. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW A plan drawing of the parkette where Kenneth Lee was fatally stabbed and the surrounding area that was entered as an exhibit in court. Court exhibit The boy told the court that he was accidentally stabbed by the girl who would later be on trial for stabbing Lee — 'Wrong movements at the wrong time,' he told the court. A knife sliced through his right forearm, he said. The girls helped him get inside the station, video shows, where they got the attention of security guards. One of the girls called 911, the lead police detective in the case testified at the preliminary hearing, and said their friend had been stabbed. The girls would follow their friend to SickKids Hospital, where he was treated. The boy snapped a picture of his bloodied wrist, appearing stitched up, and sent it to his friends — later seized as evidence from the girls' cellphones. The messages were 'going crazy' in the group chat about how the boy had been injured, one of the girls' friends, who was not involved in the swarming, later testified at trial. The boy agreed, when asked by the girl's defence lawyer during cross-examination at the preliminary hearing, that the girl who stabbed him seemed drunk and was acting out of character that night. He was asked if it was possible he was cut with scissors and not a knife. The girl accused of stabbing Lee's had two pairs of nail scissors on her when she was arrested. None of the girls had a knife. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The boy testified he had also been smoking weed and drinking that night, affecting his memory. 'Maybe,' he answered. The girl accused of fatally stabbing Kenneth Lee was arrested with two small pairs of nail scissors. Court exhibit All eight girls were corralled in the lobby of SickKids Hospital when officers began to arrive through the revolving doors to investigate them. It was almost 3 a.m. and at first the officers didn't tell the girls they were being detained as they watched them from a distance, their body-worn cameras turned on. The girls didn't seem immediately bothered by the cops' presence. They didn't realize yet what was happening as they continued talking to each other and using their phones. The body-worn footage was played as part of a hearing about the admissibility of evidence at trial, but not at the trial itself. It wasn't until one of the girls asked an officer if she could talk to someone in the hospital lobby when the girls began to realize something was wrong. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'None of you are going to be leaving anytime soon,' the officer said. 'We can't leave?' one of them asked. There is an ongoing investigation about an incident at York and University, an officer replied. 'Somebody was stabbed and he's dead.' Crime scene photos show where Toronto Police marked blood from Kenneth Lee in the parkette where he was fatally stabbed. Court exhibit 'He's not dead,' one of the girls responded, possibly referring to their injured friend, as several of the girls approached where the officers had gathered. The girls denied being at York University — 'That was not us' — misunderstanding that the cop was referring to the downtown intersection, near Union Station. 'None of you are leaving until we sort things out,' an officer said. Is it a 'boy' or a 'girl' who's dead? one asked. It's a male adult, an officer told them. As they debated the location the officer described, one of the older girls clued in: 'I didn't kill nobody.' 'Yo, it was f—ing this b—h right here,' another said, gesturing to one of the girls seated behind her. The girls were talking over each other. 'Nobody killed nobody are you crazy?' a girl fired back at the girl who levelled the accusation. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW How do you know her? an officer asked. Another girl chimed in to say she heard from another girl that the girl behind them did it. Officers then moved toward that girl. 'You're being arrested for homicide,' one said, as she was handcuffed. The girl the Crown would eventually accuse of stabbing Lee was seated next to her, jacket hood up over her face. She was not speaking. In his decision, the judge found he could not exclude the possibility that the girl being accused in the SickKids lobby was responsible for the fatal stab wound. That girl, he wrote, can be seen on video with 'something that is shiny and shaped like a blade' protruding from her hand as she runs towards Lee during the final wave of the attack. At the same time, he wrote he could not conclude she was holding a knife. 'Is it a Chinese man?' one of the girls asked, still confused about why they were being investigated. 'It's a very serious matter,' one of the officers said. Officers searched the pockets of the girl being arrested, finding them full of candy and gum. 'I'm gonna read you your rights in the car, OK?' She was the first to be arrested. The 14-year-old is brought into a small, windowless interview room wearing an orange police-issued jumpsuit, her pink hoodie visible underneath. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The police detective followed behind her and sat across from her at a small white table that looked bolted to the floor. There's no lawyer, no parent present — the reason why this video footage, also discussed at the hearing about evidence admissibility, is never entered at her trial. 'My job here is to find out exactly what happened,' the officer told the girl, saying some of the other girls were choosing to tell police exactly what they did to Lee. 'Do I have to answer?' the girl asked. He told her she didn't. Gta A secret confession, chartered flights and strip searches: Behind the scenes of the girls-swarming saga after the killing of Kenneth Lee Here are some of the details that can now be reported for the first time. He led her through questions of where she was that night. She complained of losing her voice from talking too much. He asked why she wasn't making eye contact. 'I can't look at people when I talk to them . . . It makes me uncomfortable,' she said. Eventually the detective turned his laptop around to play the surveillance video from the parkette for her. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The girl leaned forward, tucking her chin into her hoodie as she watched. She pointed herself out in the video. 'Do you want to just tell me what happened?' the detective asked. 'I want to see what happened,' she responded. She couldn't remember, she said, telling the officer she hadn't been sober. 'I remember, but just don't remember,' she said. The detective continued playing the video from the parkette. 'He dies after this, from what happened to him,' the detective said. 'He suffered stab wounds . . . Did you stab him?' There is a long silence. She doesn't answer.
Toronto Sun
6 days ago
- Toronto Sun
MANDEL: Girl acquitted of murder in swarming of homeless man
Kenneth Lee is shown in a Toronto Police Service handout photo. In the end, not one of the eight girls who viciously swarmed a Toronto homeless man has been convicted of murder. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account How wrong that seems. SC was the last girl standing, the final teen in the gang of eight to face judgment for her role in the brutal and senseless slaying of Kenneth Lee. But not just any girl — prosecutors allege she's the actual killer who fatally stabbed the 59-year-old with a knife or small scissors during the chaotic violence that lasted just over three minutes in the parkette at Front St. and University Ave. five days before Christmas 2022. In his ruling Friday afternoon, Superior Court Justice Philip Campbell said SC, 14 at the time, 'likely' inflicted the fatal wound but it hadn't been proven beyond a reasonable doubt — so he found her not guilty of second-degree murder but guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. She had tried to plead guilty to manslaughter before her trial but it was rejected by the Crown. She now joins five of her co-accused who did plead to manslaughter, while the other two pleaded to lesser offences. 'SC participated in a group attack on Mr. Lee. For at least the last minute and 42 seconds, she was in possession of a pair of small scissors. At least once, she sank the scissors intentionally into Mr. Lee's body. During the last wave of the attack, she intended to use the scissors, and she may have done so. The attack was a vicious one driven by what seems to be irrational and inexplicable malice. The attack killed Mr. Lee,' he said in reading his verdict. Despite her 'irrational viciousness' in wielding the scissors, Campbell wasn't convinced she had the state of mind required for murder — that she either intended to kill him or to cause bodily harm she knew would probably cause his death. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The word murder is not a shorthand for an extreme level of moral failure or a high degree of viciousness,' he concluded. 'It demands a very specific mental orientation by the accused toward the causing of death. This mental orientation must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence here does not meet that burden. This was a manslaughter and was very close to the most serious example of that offense, but it was not a murder.' Crown attorney Sarah De Filippis advised the court that prosecutors haven't decided whether they'll be seeking an adult sentence. Initially, all eight girls — aged at the time between 13 and 16 — were charged with second-degree murder. The routine stripsearches they endured while in youth detention facilities lead to criticism by both judges hearing their cases — Justice David Rose in the Ontario Court of Justice and Campbell in Superior Court — and led to Campbell declaring them unconstitutional. Both judges took the girls' mistreatment into consideration to lower their sentences. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. As a result, none of the seven sentenced so far have had to do more time in custody. Will SC be the first? lt all began over a bottle of booze belonging to Lee's friend. When Lee stepped in to protect her, the angry mob descended on him like a ' bunch of wolves on top of a piece of meat,' a shelter worker would later say. From the start, SC was one of the most violent, Campbell said. 'She literally jumped on Mr. Lee's body.' Horrific video of the attack shows the girls had no mercy on the slight man — a beloved son, brother and uncle who was working on personal issues and hoped to return home for Christmas. But they didn't see him as a person. Read More This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In the three waves of attack, one teen used vice grips to beat him, one used a bag of ice, another used a pylon, while others punched, kicked, stomped and spit on him. Lee suffered 19 blunt force injuries from their swarming. And then there were the stab wounds: a shallow one under his left underarm likely caused by the scissors, and the deeper fatal wound to his heart – which a pathologist felt was 'not very likely' caused by scissors. SC had two pairs of nail scissors when she was arrested. The girls were seen with a knife that night – but it's never been found. She's back in court July 30 for a sentencing hearing. mmandel@ RECOMMENDED VIDEO Toronto & GTA World World Columnists NBA
CBC
6 days ago
- General
- CBC
Teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in fatal Toronto swarming attack
A judge has found a teen girl guilty of manslaughter in the fatal swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man in 2022. The girl, who was 14 at the time of the attack, had been charged with second-degree murder in Kenneth Lee's death.
CTV News
6 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Teen girl found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in attack on homeless Toronto man
TORONTO — A judge has found a teen girl not guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man — but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Ontario Superior Court Justice Philip Campbell says he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the girl had the state of mind required for murder in the 2022 attack on Kenneth Lee. The girl, who was 14 at the time of the attack, had tried to plead guilty to manslaughter at the start of her murder trial, but the Crown rejected that plea. Prosecutors had alleged that the girl was the one who inflicted Lee's fatal wound by stabbing the 59-year-old with a knife or a small pair of scissors during the December 2022 attack. No knife was ever recovered as part of the investigation, the trial heard, and the defence said the girl didn't have a knife at any point that night. Security footage of the swarming attack at a downtown Toronto parkette was central to the trial — but the girl's defence lawyer argued it's impossible to tell from the video who stabbed Lee and when. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2025.
Globe and Mail
6 days ago
- General
- Globe and Mail
Teen girl found guilty of manslaughter in swarming attack on homeless man
A judge has found a teen girl not guilty of second-degree murder in the fatal swarming attack on a homeless Toronto man – but guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter. Ontario Superior Court Justice Philip Campbell says he wasn't convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that the girl had the state of mind required for murder in the 2022 attack on Kenneth Lee. The girl, who was 14 at the time of the attack, had tried to plead guilty to manslaughter at the start of her murder trial, but the Crown rejected that plea. Prosecutors had alleged that the girl was the one who inflicted Lee's fatal wound by stabbing the 59-year-old with a knife or a small pair of scissors during the December 2022 attack. No knife was ever recovered as part of the investigation, the trial heard, and the defence said the girl didn't have a knife at any point that night. Security footage of the swarming attack at a downtown Toronto parkette was central to the trial – but the girl's defence lawyer argued it's impossible to tell from the video who stabbed Lee and when. The Crown said in its closing submissions that at two points, the girl can be seen in the video extending her hand in a stabbing motion that correlates with the cuts on Lee's body. When she was arrested, the girl was found with two small pairs of scissors and some tweezers, court heard. The forensic pathologist who examined Lee's body testified he died from hemorrhagic shock after he was stabbed in the heart. He also had a smaller, non-fatal stab wound near his armpit and an assortment of bruises, court heard. The pathologist testified it was unlikely that the scissors found with the girl would have caused the wound that killed Lee. The Crown argued the girl had the opportunity to get rid of a knife after leaving the parkette in moments that were not caught on surveillance video. Lee was living in the city's shelter system and was at the parkette near Toronto's Union station with a friend when they encountered the group. He died in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2022, after undergoing emergency surgery at St. Michael's Hospital, court has heard. After Lee's death, police arrested eight girls between the ages of 13 and 16 in the case and charged them with second-degree murder, but seven of them have since pleaded guilty to lesser charges. Five have pleaded guilty to manslaughter, one to assault and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.
