A 16 year old girl from the Hampton area has been given the maximum sentence allowed under the Youth Justice Act for second degree murder. She stabbed 78 year old Frank Tonge in the neck with a butcher knife in his Damacus home and has been handed 4 years in jail followed by 3 years of supervision in the community. Prosecutor Lucie Mathurin says the girl, whose name can't be released, will undergo intensive rehabilitation.The programme costs 100 thousand dollars a year but defense lawyer Dave Lutz maintains she's worth it. He goes on to say she has led a traumatised life thus far but he's confident she can turn things around.
Mr. Justice Hugh McLellen acknowledged the victim shared marijuana with her and engaged in inappropriate sexual touching but he added the law does not condone the idea that people who feel victimised can kill those who have wronged them.
