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Teen who fatally stabbed 16-year-old faces possible jail time

Teen faces jail for stabbing

A Kelowna teenager had been living on the streets, using drugs and drinking to the point of blackout, for two years before she fatally stabbed a 16-year-old in downtown Kelowna two years ago.

The sentencing hearing for the teen who killed Eli Beauregard on the evening of June 27, 2019 began in Kelowna court Friday morning, after she pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year. Now 19 years old, she cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, as she was 17 when the stabbing occurred. Castanet will refer to her as CP.

During sentencing submissions, Crown prosecutor David Grabavac said the Crown is seeking a one- to 1.5-year jail sentence, followed by one to 1.5 years of supervision upon her release. Defence counsel Joe Killoran argued his client should avoid jail time altogether, but instead serve a period of time under the Intensive Rehabilitative Custody and Supervision (IRCS) program.

While the sentencing hearing was scheduled for just one day, submissions took longer than expected, and a second day will need to be scheduled in the coming weeks.

Justice Gregory Koturbash said he plans to deliver his sentencing within the next month, as CP is set to turn 20 in late July. If she's sentenced to jail time after she turns 20, she'll be placed in an adult institution rather than a youth facility, something Justice Koturbash hoped to avoid.

Beuaregard was stabbed twice in his right arm at about 11:20 p.m. on June 27, 2019, behind the downtown Kelowna BMO Bank of Montreal. Beauregard and CP were both living on the street at the time, while dealing with substance abuse issues. An employee at the local Boys and Girls Club described the two as “good friends.”

Witnesses said the two were having a verbal altercation for about 15 minutes prior to the stabbing, and both were intoxicated.

Killoran said CP was a traumatized youth at the time of the stabbing who'd been living on the street for two years and self medicating her numerous mental health issues with drugs and alcohol – consuming upwards of two 26-ounce bottles of vodka daily. Killoran said she'd been sexually assaulted many times while living on the street, including twice in the 48 hours before the stabbing. While she called him a friend, CP alleged Beauregard had previously sexually assaulted her while she was incapacitated by drugs and alcohol, but that allegation was never proven in court.

While Killoran argued the fact that CP was a traumatized, vulnerable Indigenous youth should be treated as a mitigating factor in her sentencing, Grabavac argued the courts have said that a crime motivated by revenge is actually an aggravating factor.

As the verbal argument progressed, CP stabbed Beauregard twice in the arm, causing him to immediately bleed profusely. While the fatal cut was just 0.7 cm by 0.1 cm in size, it hit the brachial artery.

“I'm bleeding, I'm bleeding,” Beauregard cried out, according to a witness.

“That's what happens, good, you deserve it,” the teenager told Beauregard, according to the agreed statement of facts.

Beauregard was rushed to the hospital, while the young girl left the area. But police found her the next morning at the Boys and Girls Club on Richter Street. She told the arresting officers she had blacked out the night before, and she didn't remember what had happened.

Meanwhile, doctors fought to save Beauregard, who had almost completely bled out. His right arm was amputated in an attempt to save him, but he was left with little brain activity given the massive blood loss. He was taken off life support three days after the stabbing, at 6:47 p.m. on June 30, 2019.

The manslaughter charge was not laid against CP until eight months later, in February 2020. She has been out of custody on bail ever since.

In the past two years, CP is no longer homeless after she reconnected with her family. A number of family members were in court Friday to support her. She has abstained from alcohol and drug use and completed a 10-week live-in addiction treatment program. Killoran relied on several doctors' reports that said incarcerating his client could risk undoing the progress she's made. Several doctors categorized her as a low-risk to reoffend, if she remains sober from drugs and alcohol.

"There would be no substantive gains to public safety by incarceration, at least over the next two years," Killoran said in court Friday, reading from one of the doctors' reports. The doctor added that associating with others in a jail setting could increase her risk of falling back into her old ways.

"What's more likely to lead to [CP] to becoming a law-abiding citizen who never again causes harm to people? Is it wrap-around supports in an IRCS, with family supports and counselling, or is it a custodial sentence with anti-social personal peers?" Killoran said. "In our respectful submission, it's the former."

Grabavac argued that while he respected the doctors' opinions, sentencing should take more into account than just how it will impact the accused.

In two separate written statements read out in court, CP apologized for her actions, and apologized to Beauregard's parents.

"Eli was a good person, we both got caught up in a lifestyle that no kid or young adult should live," CP said. "I did the unthinkable and I will live with this for the rest of my life."

She added that she wants to become a social worker, to help other youth get clean from drugs and alcohol and get off the streets.

Beauregard's mother Emily Steele spoke through tears about her son's death.

“I will never feel the same again,” she said. “I will never get to see him and his smile. I will never get to see his green eyes twinkle in the light. I will never get to hear him laugh with joy. I will never get to hear him say 'I love you mom' again. I will never get to hug him or hold him and tell him I love him. And it kills me more than you can ever know.”



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