Teen Attacked Foster Mom

February 12, 2013 permalink

Last summer a teenager in foster care in the Niagara region tried to kill his foster mother. He was a long-term foster child shipped in from Northern Ontario. She survived in part because she anticipated his behavior and removed all knives from his living space. This week he was sentenced to two years or more in the custody of Peninsula Youth Centre.

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Teen sorry for trying to kill foster mom

By Karena Walter, The Standard, Monday, February 11, 2013 7:12:44 EST PM

ST. CATHARINES - A teenager who lured his new foster mother into her basement where he tried to beat her to death with a shovel and frying pan will undergo intensive treatment over the next two years.

“It’s hard to imagine a more horrific scenario,” said Judge Peter Wilkie in sentencing the teen, now 17, to a total of three years of custody and supervision for attempted murder.

The boy, whose name is protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, apologized in court Monday, addressing the judge while his former foster mom looked on from the gallery.

“I take full responsibility and have remorse for what I did,” he said.

“She didn’t deserve it. Nobody would deserve it.”

The court heard earlier that the teen from a northern Ontario children’s aid society had been with a Niagara Falls foster family for a short time in May 2012 when he called the 59-year-old mother to the basement.

She went downstairs, and the teen came up behind her with a shovel and hit her on the head. The woman fell and the teen repeatedly hit her with the shovel as she tried to grab it.

At some point, the teen let go of the shovel and the woman crawled to the stairs while he grabbed a couple of frying pans. The teen chased the woman upstairs, beating her with the pans.

The judge said the woman is alive today because, sensing the young man’s behaviour, she went downstairs prior to the attack and removed all the knives from the area he was living in.

“He utilized whatever weapons were at his disposal to try and batter her into submission,” the judge said.

The woman suffered injuries to her face and hands.

Wilkie said the material on the teen was “sobering” and he had a “dysfunctional, chaotic and alarming” upbringing. The teen had been in multiple placements and grew up without any of the stability a young person needs, he said.

“He is in many respects a victim as well,” he said,

Wilkie said the teen was a high risk to violently reoffend and is dealing with a multitude of issues that were outlined for the court by a psychiatrist.

“The need for an intensive rehabilitative sentence is obvious,” Wilkie said. “I have some hope these resources will not be wasted.”

The teen, represented by lawyer John Lefurgey, was sentenced to two years in custody at the Peninsula Youth Centre. Wilkie explained to the court that time could be increased, depending on how treatment goes.

“This young man’s problems are intense. They’re deep,” he said.

Once out of the centre, the teen will be supervised in the community for six months. He was credited with six months of pre-trial custody.

His former foster mother told the judge she approved of the rehabilitative treatment.

“I’m glad you’ve put that provision in that he gets the help he needs,” she said.

karena.walter@sunmedia.ca

Peninsula Youth Centre

• A secure custody and detention facility in Fenwick, with 32 beds for males ages 12 to 18 found guilty of a criminal offence.
• Goal is rehabilitation and positive reintegration back in to community by providing cognitive-based pro-social programming and skill-based recreational activities.
• Programs include anger awareness, victim awareness and problem solving.

Source: Banyan Community Services

Source: St Catharines Standard

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Peninsula Youth Centre 310 Cream Street, Fenwick Ontario

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