Teen Involved in Toronto Swarming Death Seeks Reduced Sentence After Being Strip Searched Six Times

A teenage girl who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the alleged swarming death of a homeless Toronto man is seeking a lesser sentence after she was made to strip naked six times during searches while in custody.
An agreed statement of facts pertaining to the strip searches was read in the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto on Aug. 28 during the teenager’s sentencing hearing, which is set to resume in September.
The court heard that the girl, who was 13 at the time, was made to strip naked on four occasions while being held at a Kingston, Ont., facility in the weeks following her arrest.
She was also forced to strip naked twice at a London, Ont., facility earlier this year while in custody on an unrelated assault charge, according to the statement of facts. She has since pleaded guilty to the assault charge, court heard.
The searches were routine procedure each time after the girl arrived at a facility or came back from a family visit or court appearance, the document said.
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 stipulation but that two staff members “misunderstood.”
The ministry said the current rules under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act don’t provide detailed procedures for types of searches such as strip searches of young persons. It said formalizing those regulatory requirements would create consistency and transparency for how these searches are conducted.
The teen, in testimony before the court, said that she has struggled with body image issues since childhood and that she continues to feel shame surrounding the strip searches.
“It was humiliating. … It made me feel really bad about myself,” she told the court, adding that she has been speaking to a counsellor about her experience.
The remaining four teens will be going to trial in Ontario Superior Court next year. Three will be tried for second-degree murder and one for manslaughter.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the names of the accused minors cannot be published.