Crown to make closing submissions at trial of teen accused in swarming death of Toronto man

February 19, 2025 Canuck

Prosecutors are expected to make their final submissions this afternoon at the trial of a teen girl accused of fatally stabbing a homeless man in Toronto two years ago.

The girl was 14 when she and a group of friends encountered Kenneth Lee in a downtown Toronto parkette in December 2022. She has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

Her co-accused, who was 16 at the time, entered a surprise guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Tuesday, admitting in a statement that she was a “joint participant” in a group assault that led to Lee’s death.

The Crown alleges the younger girl stabbed Lee with a knife in the final moments of violent swarming that lasted roughly three minutes and 20 seconds.

Teen not responsible for fatal blow, defence argues

The defence, however, says the girl wasn’t the one who dealt the lethal blow, arguing it’s impossible to tell from security video who stabbed Lee or when.

In his closing submissions, which wrapped today, defence lawyer Boris Bytensky said the girl didn’t have a knife at any point that night and none was recovered during the investigation.

The girl had been drinking and smoking marijuana with friends at Yorkdale mall hours before going to the parkette and there’s evidence she continued to drink afterward, he said, pointing to security footage that shows the group with a bottle of Crown Royal whisky that appears increasingly empty as they make their way downtown.

“She’s demonstrating obvious signs of intoxication,” stumbling around with reduced inhibitions even in the half hour before the incident, Bytensky argued.

Court has heard Lee, 59, died on the operating table at St. Michael’s Hospital on Dec. 18, 2022, after he was beaten and stabbed.

An autopsy found he died from blood loss after he was stabbed in the heart, court heard. Lee also had another, smaller stab wound that did not contribute to his death and an assortment of bruises and other injuries, according to the forensic pathologist who examined his body.

At the time of her arrest, the girl was found with two pairs of nail scissors and some tweezers, court heard. The forensic pathologist said it was unlikely those scissors would have caused the fatal wound, but they could have caused the smaller cut.

The defence has acknowledged the girl “might” have caused the smaller, non-fatal wound, but not the one that pierced Lee’s heart.

Eight girls were arrested in the hours that followed Lee’s death. So far, five have pleaded guilty — four to manslaughter and one to assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.

A jury trial is scheduled in May for the remaining two girls.

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