Canada’s parole board has revoked day parole for the woman who killed 14-year-old B.C. teen Reena Virk, following a series of positive drug tests and behaviours the board said represent “an undue risk to society.”
According to parole documents, Kerry Sim — who was known as Kelly Ellard in 1997 when she killed Virk — first saw her limited release into the community suspended last January when she tested positive for methamphetamine following months of “negative and con-compliant” behaviour.
Although she denied using drugs — blaming prescribed medication for what she claimed were false positives — Sim again tested positive for non-prescribed medication in prison in April and later admitted that she “had taken another offender’s medication.”
In a decision issued last month, the Parole Board of Canada told Sim “you present with an anti-social or delinquent value system, that you have an unwillingness to accept responsibility for your own actions and your rebelliousness puts you at a high risk for future delinquent behaviour.”
“Your behaviour in the community prior to your suspension is inconsistent with what is minimally required or expected on an earned release,” the decision says.
“You disregarded minimum supervision expectations and when this was addressed with you, you became hostile, argumentative, antagonizing, lacked accountability and deflected blame.”
‘Antagonizing, threatening and insulting’
Sim is serving a life sentence for second-degree murder in the 1997 killing. The decision describes a 42-year-old struggling with children, single-parenting, substance abuse — and the consequences of her actions.
The impact of Virk’s murder continues to reverberate years after Sim and Warren Glowatski followed the teenager across the Craigflower Bridge and dragged her into Victoria’s Gorge waterway following a savage beating by a swarm of teens Virk thought were friends.
The case has inspired books, plays, podcast episodes and a recent Hulu true-crime TV series — starring Oscar-nominee Lily Gladstone — based on the 2005 non-fiction book of the same name, Under the Bridge.
Sim — who has had a troubled history before the parole board — has long stood in stark contrast to Glowatski, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 1999 but sought forgiveness from Virk’s parents, meeting with them to express his remorse.
Sim stood trial three times for the murder before the Supreme Court of Canada finally upheld her conviction in 2009.
She was released on day parole in 2018, but has been hauled back in front of the parole board multiple times for domestic violence and positive urine tests. According to the parole documents, Sim was arrested in 2021 because of a deterioration in behaviour.
She returned to a community residential facility in the Lower Mainland in 2023, but was in and out of trouble. Staff described her behaviour as “antagonizing, threatening and insulting.”
‘An undue risk to society’
According to the parole board, Sim was ultimately apprehended at the facility following the positive drug test last January, but would not leave her room, making “vague suicidal comments” and “screaming and kicking” before she was taken into custody.
Sim — who is the parent of one child — has “struggled emotionally” due to her child’s behavioural issues, being a single parent and “managing legal custody issues” with her ex-partner.
The new Hulu series Under the Bridge is drawing renewed attention to the murder of 14-year-old Reena Virk in Victoria. CBC’s Jason Proctor, who covered the story of the killing when it happened in 1997, takes us through the latest court documents and reaction to the show from those involved.
The parole decision says she also voiced safety concerns following the release of the television mini-series.
At the time of the series release, the board noted that Sim had “demonstrated some remorse and victim empathy after a discussion about an upcoming television series based on your crimes.”
“You said the series is disrespectful to the victim and her family, and that the index offence was so horrendous that it would re-victimize the victim’s family,” the board noted in a previous decision.
The parole board noted that Sim has been working as a cleaner since returning to jail and has “demonstrated positive behaviour” but concluded the risk of releasing her was too great.
“Despite the time you have had for self-reflection since returning to custody, the board finds you continue to engage in behaviours and thinking that contributed to your suspension,” the decision concludes.
“You will, by re-offending before the expiration of your sentence, present an undue risk to society.”
