21.55°C Vancouver 21.55°C Vancouver
Nov 5, 2021 10:24 PM - The Canadian Press
The woman who beat and drowned Victoria teenager Reena Virk is back on day parole again after struggling to conform within the correctional system.
Kelly Ellard, now 39 years old and the mother of two children, has returned to day parole after the privilege was revoked in August for what a Parole Board of Canada decision says were indications of drug and alcohol use.
Ellard, who now goes by the name Kerry Sim, was 15 when she and a co-accused beat and drowned the 14-year-old girl in Victoria's Gorge waterway and she was later convicted of second-degree murder.
Sim had been on day parole since 2017, spending up to five days a week at her own Metro Vancouver home so she could care for her two boys.
A ruling from the parole board says she was ``positive and compliant'' when it approved continued parole in January, but it revoked permission after indications of substance use and reports of escalating violence involving the father of her children.
The latest parole review says Sim faced mounting stress maintaining her household and caring for the youngsters over the last year after her partner lost his job and financial and interpersonal pressures increased.
