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Youth pleads guilty to first-degree murder in 2019 foster-home stabbing

The deceased, a 15-year-old boy, suffered wounds to his neck as well as a punctured lung, liver, bicep and defensive injuries to his right hand
2019-02-22 Penvill Trail RB 1
In this file photo from February 2019, Barrie police forensic identification officers prepare to enter a home in the city's south end during the murder investigation. Raymond Bowe/BarrieToday

Editor's note: The following story contains graphic descriptions heard in court which may be unsuitable for some readers. 

A teenage boy has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the fatal stabbing of another boy living in the same group home in south-end Barrie three years ago.

Lawyer Neil Riley indicated the Crown will be seeking a 10-year sentence, to include six years in custody.

The teenager, who was 14 at the time of the stabbing, is being prosecuted under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which prohibits the publication of information that would identify him. The identity of the victim has also been protected.

On Feb. 19, 2019, a 15-year-old boy who had been living in the group home since the previous December was stabbed to death in what was described in court as a treatment foster-care facility run by Expanding Horizons. He had a bedroom on the first floor while three other boys and a foster father had bedrooms on the second floor.

Court heard that the 15-year-old boy had never been in trouble with police before. His attacker, a permanent Crown ward since 2017, had been moved to Barrie from the Hamilton area in 2018 because of behaviour issues.

Problems ensued after the bedroom of the foster father was broken into. He had been keeping medications, scissors and other sharp objects locked up in his room, but returned one day to find it had been broken into and he called police. Two large kitchen knives were taken.

According to the agreed statement of facts read into the court, the 14-year-old boy thought the 15-year-old boy ratted him out. 

Early the next morning, the younger boy attacked the older boy in his first-floor bedroom using the stolen knives.

Bleeding from the head and neck, the older boy knocked on the door of the foster parent, who went off in search of a towel and a phone. When he returned, he saw the younger boy come up the stairs and continue his attack on the older boy.

Court heard the foster parent went into his bedroom, closing the door and yelled out to warn the other boys. One jumped out of his bedroom window onto a roof and saw the younger boy flee on foot.

The older boy, court heard, was gasping for breath with a blade sticking out both sides of his neck. He was taken to hospital, but died of multiple stab wounds. His injuries included a punctured lung, liver, bicep and defensive injuries to his right hand.

Police found his attacker on an adjacent street.

During the accused boy’s court appearance Monday, Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst asked him a series of questions during her plea enquiry, some of which he appeared to not understand, prompting her or his lawyer, Michael Puskas, to repeat or rephrase the question.

The teenager replied, “No, I’m good” when the judge asked him if he wanted to get more advice from his lawyer.

When she asked if the facts read into the court were correct, he said: “It doesn’t matter to me,” prompting the judge to reply: “It does matter.”

The teenager then responded: “Yes ma’am.”

The teenager returns to court for a sentencing hearing May 26.

The parents of the dead boy, along with the foster father, have launched civil suits related to the attack.

The parents are blaming the home’s operators and those associated with it for his death, which they say could have been prevented. Their $3.75-million lawsuit names the home’s foster parent, as well as the company, Expanding Horizons Family Services Inc., the children’s aid societies in Simcoe County, York Region and Hamilton, and the Barrie Police Services Board as being liable in the death of their son.

The young foster parent is suing Expanding Horizons and its operators, as well as the Hamilton children’s aid society, its workers and the accused boy for $11 million. He says he has suffered long-lasting trauma resulting from his experience and witnessing the attack.