Lakeshore Advance, 2012-01-25, Page 4Out of control
teen sentenced
Neil Bowen
=MI Agency
An elementary school girl
who was bullied into a fight
over a boy was sentenced to
90 days in custody Thursday
In Sarnia court.
The 14 -year-old girl had
previously pleaded guilty to
assault causing bodily harm
last January. On Thursday
she also pleaded guilty to
assaulting her mother in
recent weeks.
The prearranged after-
school fight took place at
Errol Public School, which
neither girl attended. They
were from schools at oppo-
site ends of the city.
Vicious emails had been
sent to the 14 -year-old by
the second girl, described
defence lawyer Ed Gresham
as a bully.
Following the fight, the
bully claimed she was
jumped by the 14 -year-old,
but an investigation
revealed the emails and a
video recording of the vio-
lent scrap.
The second girl wanted to
fight because she believed
the 14 -year-old was a rival
for a particular boy.
In the video, which was
played in court, voices can
be heard cheering, laughing
and encouraging the girls to
fight. At one point the
14 -year-old was told to kick
her opponent in the head.
Justice Mark Ilornblower
said every individual watch-
ing the fight and cheering it
on in such a barbaric fash-
ion is blameworthy.
"I can't deal with them. 1
wish 1 could," he said.
The fight ended quickly
after the initial punches.
'Ihe 14-year-old's opponent
was knocked to ground and
was kicked in the head
repeatedly while unable to
defend herself.
She suffered a concussion
and a chipped tooth.
The vicious attack, which
became a public event, was
shocking, said assistant
Crown attorney Richard
Weatherston, who added
the kicks could have caused
permanent injury or death.
A pre -sentence report
indicated the girl has little
understanding of the
assault's seriousness.
She uses drugs and alco-
hol and claims it demon-
strates her advanced matu-
rity, but she is a completely
lost person, said Weather-
ston, who requested eight
months of custody.
The girl went over the top
in taking the bully down,
but custody wasn't war-
ranted for the girl who has
no prior record, said
Gresham.
The girl has been in cus-
tody since assaulting her
mother two weeks ago.
Following an argument
the girl struck her mother,
pulled a baseball- sized
clump of hair from her scalp
and pinned her to a refrig-
erator before a family mein -
her intervened.
"(The custody's) been
hard on me. I've learned my
lesson," the girl said.
Saying the assault against
her mother shows out -of -
control behaviour, Horn-
blower imposed the custody
in addition to time already
served.
It will be followed by a
year's probation when she
must stay away from the
other girl, drugs and alco-
hol, attend school and take
counselling.
The Youth Criminal Jus-
tice Act prohibits publica-
tion of the girl's identity.
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