Reena Virk (March 10, 1983 – November 14, 1997) was a resident of Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Her status as a bullying and murder victim attracted substantial media attention in Canada.
Virk was first swarmed by eight teenagers (seven girls and one boy). The names of six of the girls involved in the first beating, known collectively as "the Shoreline Six," have not all been released. Following the first beating the boy, Warren Glowatski, and Kelly Ellard murdered Virk. Glowatski was given a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder. Ellard was tried three times. The verdict of her third trial, a conviction, was set aside. The verdict was appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada which ruled not to hold a fourth trial in an 8-1 decision, upholding the conviction and sentence.
The Globe and Mail commented at the time that her case had been "elevated into a national tragedy."[1] Canadian sociologists have described the case as a watershed moment for a "moral panic" over girl violence by the Canadian public in the late 1990s.[2]
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Virk came from a large extended family who had emigrated from India. An article in Saturday Night described her immediate family as "a minority within a minority," as they were of the Jehovah's Witness religion in the local South Asian community of 3,000 which was predominantly Sikh.[3]
Virk has been described as a girl who was desperate for acceptance amongst her peers, but was taunted and/or ostracized by these girls whose subculture was influenced by Los Angeles street gangs.[1]
On the evening of Friday November 14, 1997, Reena Virk was invited to a "party" by her friend near the Craigflower Bridge, west of the city of Victoria, British Columbia.
While at the bridge, it is claimed that teenagers drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. Virk was subsequently swarmed by a group later called the Shoreline Six. Witnesses said that one of the girls stubbed out a cigarette on Virk's forehead, and that while seven or eight others stood by and watched, Virk was repeatedly hit, punched and kicked. She was found to have several cigarette burns on her skin, and apparently attempts were made to set her hair on fire. This first beating ended when one of the girls told the others to stop.
Virk managed to walk away, but was followed by two members of the original group, Ellard and Glowatski. The pair dragged Virk to the other side of the bridge, made her remove her shoes and jacket, and beat her a second time. It is believed that Ellard forced Virk's head under the water and held it there with her foot until Virk stopped struggling.
Despite an alleged pact amongst the people involved not to "rat each other out," by the following Monday, rumors of the alleged murder spread throughout Shoreline Secondary School, where Virk was a student. Several uninvolved students and teachers heard the rumors, but no one came forward to report it to the police. The rumors were confirmed eight days later, on November 22, 1997, when police using a helicopter found Virk's partially clothed body washed ashore at the Gorge Inlet, a major waterway on Vancouver Island. Media sources indicated that Cst Chris Horsley of the Saanich Police was the officer who located Virk's body.
The coroner ruled the death was by drowning. However, an autopsy later revealed that Virk had sustained significant injury, and that the head injuries were severe enough to have killed her if she had not been drowned. Virk was 14 years old.
The six female perpetrators are referred to in court documents as N.C. , N.P., M.G.P. Name Missie, C.A.K., G.O. , and K.M.E. N.C. is known to be Nicole Cook who has admitted involvement.[4] Kelly Ellard is referred to in some documents as K.M.E.
Warren Glowatski was born April 26, 1981 in Medicine Hat, Alberta. He was convicted in Virk's murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Glowatski and his parents moved around frequently prior to their separation in 1996; he lived in Estevan and Regina, Saskatchewan, and Castlegar, British Columbia.
In 1996, Glowatski and his father moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. By 1997 they had settled in a trailer home near the southern tip of the Island in Saanich.
The following year Glowatski's father married a woman he met in Las Vegas, Nevada. Warren Glowatski decided to remain in Saanich, living alone in the trailer and supported by money sent by his father.
On the night of Virk's murder, for unknown reasons, Glowatski involved himself in the fight and twice kicked the victim in the head. When the beating ended, Glowatski and Kelly Ellard followed Virk. According to Glowatski, Ellard smashed Virk's face into a tree knocking her out. With Glowatski's help Ellard dragged Virk into the water where Ellard drowned her.
In June 1999, Glowatski was convicted of second-degree murder and given a life sentence. Because he was 16 at the time of the murder, he was eligible for parole after serving seven years. In November 2004, he was denied his first chance at day parole.[5]
The Virks did not contest the parole, because Glowatski expressed remorse and responsibility for his part of the murder. In July 2006, he was granted unescorted temporary absences from jail. By December 2006, Glowatski was eligible to apply for day parole again [4], which he was granted in June 2007.[6]
During his incarceration, Glowatski discovered that he is Metis. This played a large role in parole hearings as he asked the parole board to incorporate his elders into the process and various healing circles and other forms of restorative justice were used bringing Glowatski and Virk's parents together. In receiving day parole he proceeded to hug every member of the parole board and those present, including the Virks.[7]
Warren Glowatski was released on full parole in June 2010. [5]
Kelly Ellard, born 1982, was 15 years old when she and Warren Glowatski assaulted and drowned Virk. Ellard has stood trial three times for the murder, and been convicted twice. On June 12, 2009, the Globe and Mail reported that the Supreme Court of Canada had overturned the judicial ruling of the BC Court of Appeals in an 8-1 ruling. Ellard's third trial was judged to be fairly executed.[8]
Ellard was initially convicted in March 2000 for second-degree murder in Virk's death. In February 2003, this conviction was overturned and a new trial was ordered. The second trial ended in a mistrial (as the result of a hung jury) in July 2004. A third trial was ordered and Ellard was convicted again of second-degree murder in April 2005 and given an automatic life sentence with no parole eligibility for seven years.
The Supreme Court ruled that her conviction stands because the error by the original trial judge was "harmless".[9]
Nicole Cook, born 1983, lived in a group home at the time. On MSNBC's documentary "Bloodlust Under the Bridge", Cook spoke about how she took a lit cigarette and put it out on Reena Virk's face, initializing the mayhem that followed. Nicole Cook further explained how she repeatedly punched and kicked Virk as she was being pummeled by the other assailants. At the end of the MSNBC interview, Nicole Cook then lambasted the accusation that she had anything to do with Reena Virk's actual murder because Ellard was the participant charged for the murder. Veteran Dateline reporter Keith Morrison then asked, "Would the murder have ever happened if you hadn't started the fight by burning her face with your cigarette?" and Cook replied, "I don't know. Maybe." [4]
The best-selling book about the case, Under the Bridge by Rebecca Godfrey, details some of the motives that may have led to Virk's death. Two of the girls convicted in the initial beating allege that Virk stole a phone book from Nicole Cook and started calling Cook's friends and spreading rumors about her. Cook stubbed out a cigarette on Virk's forehead during the attack. Another girl, M.G.P, was allegedly angry with Virk for stealing her boyfriend. Virk once lived with the two girls in a youth group home. It is suggested she may have done those things in order to assert herself as "tough."
The book also reveals that Virk was initially considered a runaway when her mother first reported her missing to the Saanich Police Department, the police agency in which the Virks resided. The book "Under the Bridge" incorrectly documented the Missing Persons report as being made to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Two Russian sisters, who lived in the youth group home, were prompted to call the police upon hearing that Virk was most likely dead.
The murder case has been the subject of an award-winning and bestselling book, Under the Bridge (2005) by Rebecca Godfrey,[20] which is currently being developed into a feature film,[21] and partly inspired a monologue play, The Shape of a Girl (2001), by Joan MacLeod.[22] and The Beckoners by Carrie Mac. The film rights for the book Under the Bridge have been purchased by Type A Productions, a film production company, for adaptation into a movie.[23]
The murder of Reena Virk was also the subject of a thesis published in a book edited by Christine Alder and Anne Worrell titled "Girls' Violence; Myths and Realities. The Author of the thesis, "Racism, 'Girl Violence' and the Murder of Reena Virk", Sheila Batacharya, discusses the murder of Reena Virk from feminist perspective and looks at why the argument from media and police that the murder was not racially motivated may not have been entirely accurate. Batacharya also argues that the narrative of 'girl violence' which academics policy makers and journalists have asserted is evidenced by Virk's murder, obscures other investigations and explanations surrounding this murder.[24] Reena’s father, Mr. Manjit Virk, has written a book about the murder of his daughter: Reena: A Father’s Story (2008), which is highly critical of the B.C. Ministry of Children and Families and the B.C. justice system; Reena was murdered under the voluntary care of the Ministry, yet no apology was given or responsibility taken.
In December 2010, students from Walkerville High School in Windsor, Ontario performed a play based on the death of Reena Virk for members of the community, as well as the Virk parents.[25]