WINNIPEG — A teenager who helped attack a young Manitoba woman and shared the footage of her bloody death will not learn how much time she will spend behind bars until June.
Serena McKay’s body was found on the Sagkeeng First Nation last April and two teenage girls, who were 16 and 17, were arrested.
The older girl, who has since turned 18 but can’t be named because she was underage when the beating occurred, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in December.
The Crown and defence jointly recommended the girl receive the maximum youth sentence of seven years.
But the Crown wants the girl to spend four years behind bars while the defence is asking for one, with the rest of the time served in the community.
Judge Rocky Pollack says he will deliver a decision in June.
McKay had been at a house party in the Sagkeeng community when there was an argument.
Two videos, which later circulated on social media, showed McKay being attacked while she begged for the beating to stop.
Court heard the videos were filmed on the teenager’s phone and she was the first person to text them to a friend.
McKay’s parents told court they were haunted by what they saw on the video and the knowledge they were still circulating online.
“I dream about her,” Delores Daniels told court as she clutched an eagle feather and broke into tears earlier this week. “I wake up crying and sad that she is not here and wonder what she would have become in life.”
The teenager has apologized to McKay’s family, saying she lives every day “with this guilt and this shame.”
“There are no words to describe how sorry I am,” she told court.