Teenage girl gets maximum sentence for role in contract killing of West Island boy

A teenage girl who participated in a murder in Ontario as well as the murder of a teenage boy from the West Island was sentenced on Tuesday at the Valleyfield courthouse for the Quebec crime.

In Youth Court, Quebec Court Judge Hugo Rousse said that while the girl, who was 15 at the time, did not shoot the boy who was killed in St-Zotique in April 2023, she was a full participant in the homicide. The 16-year-old boy, whose name cannot be published because of publication ban, was driven to a farmer’s field and shot. His body was discovered hours later.

While reading from his decision, Rousse said bank and cellphone records revealed the girl travelled from Ontario to Quebec to take part in the murder. The judge also said the shooting was ordered by someone involved in organized crime. No one else has been arrested in the case.

“She was not a passive bystander and she was not the shooter,” Rousse said. “The victim was targeted because of his role in a criminal scheme.

“The (joint recommendation of the) sentence is in line with the youth’s personality. It is just and appropriate.”

In August, the girl pleaded guilty to first-degree murder. Rousse agreed with a joint recommendation from the Crown, represented by prosecutor Marie-Laurence Hébert-Trudeau, and defence lawyer Morgane Laloum that the girl serve a 10-year sentence, the maximum allowed under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Rousse also agreed to subtract seven months from the first part of the sentence, six years in custody, because of the time she has already served awaiting the outcome of her case. For the following four years, the girl will be subject to surveillance conditions.

While going over the summary of facts that were entered into the court record in August, Rousse said the murder was a contract killing and involved multiple people. The vehicle that brought the boy to the farmer’s field arrived at 1:20 a.m. on April 12, 2023 and it left shortly after.

Beyond that, not many details concerning the homicide were revealed in the Youth Court case.

Earlier this year, the same girl pleaded guilty to first-degree murder at a courthouse in Newmarket, Ont. In that case, she admitted she lured a young man from the West Island to his death. A publication ban has been placed on that victim’s name as well, even though he was an adult when he was killed, a week after the 16-year-old’s body was found in St-Zotique.

Two adult men were charged in the murder carried out in Ontario on April 23, 2023.

On Oct. 31, Lyjah Griffiths, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. He was sentenced to a prison term of 12 years and 10 months.

A first-degree murder charge filed against the other man, Kolby Mohan-Johnson, was withdrawn.

pcherry@postmedia.com

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