ABBOTSFORD, B.C. -- A British Columbia woman who murdered 14-year-old schoolgirl Reena Virk near a Victoria-area bridge in 1997 is asking for release from prison.
Kelly Ellard is seeking day parole in her first bid for some freedom since the Supreme Court of Canada reinstated her second-degree murder conviction in 2009.
Ellard was 15 when she and several other teens swarmed and beat Virk, then Ellard and a boy followed her across a bridge, smashed her head into a tree and held her underwater until she drowned.
The boy who joined her, Warren Glowatski, was also convicted of second-degree murder and granted full parole in 2010.
Virk's grandfather Mukand Pallan says the family no longer believes Ellard can redeem herself and doesn't believe the woman deserves parole.
Ellard is now 33 years old and if released would live in a halfway house under numerous conditions.