Murder which shocked Canada raises fears of simmering teenage violence

When police on Vancouver Island found the body of 14-yearold Reena Virk in a gorge and starting investigating how she was killed, the wild rumours circulating among local teenagers turned out to be wrong.

The truth was far worse.

Reena, an overweight girl of Indian origin, had been brutally battered by schoolmates, most of them girls, and then thrown into a sea inlet called The Gorge. A sister of one of the girls now accused of the murder said the victim's arms were broken and then her back, so that she would not be able to swim. Reena also had a cigarette stubbed out on her forehead before two separate attacks, the last one to finish her off.

So far seven girls and one boy, all under 16 and from the quiet suburb of Saanich, have been charged with either second-degree murder or aggravated assault. Police say a 15-year-old girl may have her charge changed to first-degree murder after more investigations.

The murder shocked Canada: suddenly the increasing violence among schoolgirls became a hot issue.

Saanich is a quiet middle-class part of Victoria, a small city which prides itself on being genteel and boasts an Olde England Inn and Anne Hathaway reproduction cottage. But the schools have been aware of simmering teenage violence linked to alcohol and drugs.

Many pupils are from dysfunctional families and a number have been put into foster homes. Reena Virk was one of these, which made her even more of an "outsider". She had tried to return home before her murder but this had not worked out.

She told a friend that she had been sexually abused in the past by a relative and had tried to slit her wrists. She also changed schools a number of times.

A large girl with sad eyes, she tried to be accepted by her peers and to be part of their scene, but was rejected. There are also reports that she had recently begun experimenting with drugs, but Shaun Devries who knew her said that "she wasn't a druggie, she just wanted to fit in".

Devries also said that many of the teenagers did not like Reena. "She'd just try to tag along, try to fit in wherever she could, but she didn't make it."

On the night she was murdered she apparently came upon a group from her former school at a sheltered spot near The Gorge known for drinking parties. Because of the Canadian laws restricting reporting of cases involving juveniles, the first court hearing was in camera, but the sister of one of the accused gave details to the media of Reena's horrific end.

It is said that she may have been attacked because of an argument over a boyfriend of one of the girls. After Reena had been knocked down, kicked and beaten, her attackers left but two are said to have returned to assault her even more savagely and throw her into the water.

A professor at Victoria University nearby, Sibylle Artz, has written a book published this year called Sex, Power and the Violent School Girl. Her views on teenage female violence, which is now increasing faster than that among boys, were widely aired this week.

According to Ms Artz, boys are the main reason for the girls' violence towards each other. "The way the girl's power is obtained is through the attention of the male. If that attention is threatened, they have to take out the competition."

Ms Artz says concerning Reena Virk's murder: "I don't imagine that these kids set out to kill this girl, they just set out to beat her. They're just children. They don't understand the consequences of their acts."

The professor, who is the director of the university's School of Child and Youth Care, also blames the pressures from media images. Girls "get the message everywhere that they're just sexual commodities, and the pairing of sex and violence has never been so predominant". Also, advertising images of girls as emaciated, ever-younger sex objects induces self-hatred expressed in violence to themselves like eating disorders and self-mutilation, she says.

Victoria police say the numbers of teenagers involved in violence is small and play down the reports of rival gangs modelled on the Los Angeles Bloods and Crips.

But John Hyashi, a youth counsellor who works with Saanich police department, says: "Anyone who works with youth knew it was only a matter of time before something like this happened. More and more kids are becoming fascinated with gangs, violence and weapons. They were even calling themselves Crips and Bloods."

Reena Virk, according to her uncle, Balraj Pallan, had wanted to be a nurse and also loved to draw. He said he warned her that some of her companions were "bad people".

"It's the end of innocence for Victoria Island. But for fate, it could be anyone's daughter," the uncle said.