B.C. Teens Charged In Girl's Death

VICTORIA, B.C. - As the parents of a slain 14-year-old girl looked on, a prosecutor yesterday told a court how a group of mostly teenage girls beat her to death.

Three of eight teenagers implicated in the case appeared in court as authorities provided the first official details on the killing of ninth-grader Reena Virk.

"It appears that a group of young women assaulted the girl," prosecutor Don Morrison said. "It ended. The second assault occurred. It resulted in death."

One of the girls was charged with second-degree murder in the death, which followed a party Nov. 14 near an isolated bridge in Saanich, near Victoria. Her body was then dumped in the Gorge Waterway.

Seven teens - six girls and a boy, ages 14 to 16 - are charged with aggravated assault. They have been in police custody since they were arrested Friday and Saturday.

Police found the girl's body on Saturday, as they checked into schoolyard rumors that she had been killed.

The three teens who appeared in court were released - two under strict conditions, and one under house arrest. The others remained in custody, pending court appearances Friday and next week.

Two girls appeared in court together, charged with aggravated assault against Virk, described as an occasional runaway.

Morrison said the two girls were involved in a first attack on the victim - not a second assault that led to her death.

The two girls were initially calm and composed during their short court appearance. One - aged 14 - eventually began to weep.

The other - aged 16 - became red-faced, then wept as Youth Court Judge Loretta Chaperon read out a long list of conditions for her release.

"Oh my God," she said as Chaperon barred her from contacting other suspects, witnesses or the parents of the victim.