20 years after she drowned 14 year old Reena Virk under the Craigflower Bridge, Kelly Ellard has been granted day parole.
CTV Vancouver Island reporter Robert Buffam attended the parole hearing in Abbotsford this (Thurs) morning:
" Twenty years after the crime she was been convicted of, the second degree murder of Reena Virk, she has been granted a significant amount of freedom. The conditions of the day parole are it's a 6 month period, and she's to commence that by going to a substance abuse treatment facility. And if she successfully completes that in the community she will then go to a halfway house."
Ellard failed a drug test in prison in June 2015, but has not done so since then.
Buffam says Ellard still refuses to take full responsibility for her role, continuing to minimize her actions -- something the parole board took note of.
"She acknowledged as she had previously that she dragged her body down to the water. She characterized it as getting rid of something bad she'd done. That's her characterization of it. But she did not take responsibility for holding Reena Virk's head under the water, which is something that, continues to be something that is noted as minimizing her role in this crime."
It's not known which treatment program Ellard will attend.
Ellard was granted temporary escorted absences to allow her to take her son to medical appointments. The parole board heard Ellard described as a nuturing mother.
She became pregnant in 2016 after having conjugal visits with her boyfriend, Darwin Dorozan, 42, who was on parole for break and enters. His parole was later revoked when he became a “person of interest” in the disappearance of a drug dealer.