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The six-minute audio clip, along with many other details in the case, has been under a publication ban pending trials for several of the girls, including some who were set to face a jury.

But with the last of the girls听pleading guilty to lesser charges a week听ago, and one awaiting judgment, many of those details can now be reported for the first time 鈥� including a discovery of “inhumane” treatment that upended the girls鈥� bail hearings, snippets of police interrogations and the cover stories the girls gave for where they’d be that night.

The Star has been covering the case since eight teenage girls were arrested in December 2022 and charged in Lee’s death. There were dozens of hearings before trials were ever scheduled or guilty pleas entered. What follows are snapshots of some of what happened inside those courtrooms.

Girl made MP3 confession

After their arrest, some of the girls were detained at the 10-bed Sundance facility for youth in Kingston, Ont. Others were sent to a facility for girls near London, Ont. At Sundance, they were supplied with MP3 players pre-loaded with music, the court first heard in April 2023.

After one of the girls was transferred to a less secure facility, workers learned the MP3 players had the ability to record voice notes and that she had been taping messages for another girl 鈥� who was not involved in the case 鈥� in the facility.

The first memo started off with the girl 鈥� who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act 鈥� sharing some of her social media handles and singing a high-pitched, made-up song.

The second clip took a sudden turn.

鈥淲hen I tell you I was gone fam鈥� 鈥� I was drunk, I was high,鈥� the girl says as she begins to talk about that night and 鈥渢he guy who apparently we murdered.鈥�

She described how some of the girls were trying to take liquor from Lee鈥檚 friend 鈥� 鈥渢rying to drink a f—-ing junkie鈥檚 liquor,鈥� she said laughing.

鈥淭his dumb 鈥� b—— starts hitting the guy, I don鈥檛 know why,鈥� she says of one of the other girls. 鈥淢e, I鈥檓 just there instigating.鈥�

鈥淚 take out my wrench from my f—-ing bag and I start beating that n—— on the f—-ing head,鈥� she said, referring to Lee.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to swing at me, best believe I鈥檓 gonna swing back.鈥�

The facility manager later testified at a preliminary hearing that they notified police when they found the audio and provided the player to detectives.听

The girl would later plead guilty to manslaughter. The agreed statement of facts read in court included that she had a pair of vice grips with her that she used to hit Lee repeatedly.

Brochure reveals strip searching

On the third page of a brochure given out by the St. Lawrence Youth Association for its Sundance detention facility was a section about 鈥渂ody鈥� searches.

Criminal defence lawyer Jordana Goldlist had the brochure with her in the former youth court at 311 Jarvis St. as she questioned the witness on the stand 鈥� Rachel Ferreira, a senior official from the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services, which oversees youth detention in the province.

The brochure said the searches were necessary for everyone鈥檚 safety.

It was January 2023 and Goldlist鈥檚 client 鈥� one of the youngest to be accused in the swarming death, at age 13 鈥� was having a hearing to decide whether she could be released on bail. Ferreira was the Crown鈥檚 witness and now it was Goldlist鈥檚 turn to cross examine her.

Goldlist asked what was meant by a body search 鈥� was it a strip search?

Typically, yes, was Ferreira鈥檚 reply.

The official would go on to explain how the searches were conducted: Youth enter a private area, such as a bathroom, and are provided a towel. They remove all of their clothing and use the towel to cover themselves. The girls are also asked to squat and cough and then to remove the towel for several seconds, where they would be completely nude.

The court heard girls at Sundance and Woodview, another facility operated by Craigwood Children, Youth and Family Services in London,听were strip searched routinely, even after visiting court. Any instance they were out of the line of sight of facility staff could be cause for a search.

Justice Maria Sirivar interjected in the proceedings to say she was 鈥渋ncredibly troubled鈥� by the evidence she had heard about the searches and said she did not want the girls to be put in a position where they were being strip searched just for attending court.

鈥淚 had no idea that it would result in them being strip searched when they return,鈥� the judge said.

Later in the hearing, the judge asked the lawyers how the issue could be resolved while she considered whether to release the girl on bail 鈥� what was her jurisdiction to rectify this problem?

Ultimately, the judge said she needed more time to decide on bail, but in signing the order that the girl be returned to custody, she also ordered that she not be strip searched when she returned to the facility.听

The following day, during the bail hearing for a different girl in the case, Crown attorney Sarah De Filippis informed the judge, again Sirivar, that there was an issue stemming from her order the previous day.

When the girl returned to Sundance, the Crown said, staff complied with the order not to strip search her, but in doing so, confined her to her room, segregating her from the other youth in custody.

“The child is essentially being put in solitary conditions,” the judge said.

It was Friday and courts do not schedule hearings on the weekend.

“To wait until Monday is inhumane.”

Sirivar demanded the issue be addressed immediately, with the facility鈥檚 legal counsel summoned over Zoom.

Carol Mackillop, counsel for St. Lawrence Youth Association, told the judge the searches were authorized under provincial law and said they were necessary to prevent weapons and drugs from entering the facility as contraband. Mackillop said any youth who doesn’t consent to a search are held in isolation. She asked the judge to set aside her order that the girl not be searched.

The judge, incredulous, said she refused to change her order.

鈥淚 will not stay my order, I will not set it aside,鈥� Sirivar said, deciding instead to rule on the girl鈥檚 bail on the spot. She was released under house arrest.

Sirivar would later rule in releasing another of the girls that her detention at Sundance had been “inhumane” and that routine strip searches are 鈥渋nconsistent with charter values.”

In yet another decision in July 2023, Sirivar criticized the province outsourcing youth detention to private entities “with little oversight.”

The strip search issue would continue to haunt the case against the girls over the next two years, complicating their eventual punishment. Their lawyers launched charter challenges over their treatment in custody. All of the sentences handed out for the girls so far have included zero jail time, in part, because of their treatment at these facilities.

Girls put on charter flight to Kenora

In April 2023, one of the girl鈥檚 lawyers interrupted a court appearance for one of the other girls with some urgent news.

Her client and two of the other girls charged in Lee’s killing had been flown overnight, by chartered plane, to a youth detention facility in Kenora, Ont.,听after the sprinkler system flooded the youth detention site they were staying at in Brampton.

Sirivar, had ordered those girls be moved to the Brampton facility after denying them bail but remaining concerned about them being routinely strip searched in other detention centres.

The youth court judge reconvened everyone two days later to hear听why the girls had been sent to a facility that’s about a 20-hour drive from Toronto. The girls connected by video to the courtroom in 海角社区官网from the Creighton Youth Centre, run by William W. Creighton Youth Services.

Part way through the hearing, the girls’ video disconnected suddenly. When a worker at Creighton reconnected, they told the court the facility’s internet had been going out intermittently ever since the winter.

Sirivar decided to order the girls attend court in person.

When court resumed a week later, the Crown, De Filippis had bad news: Despite Sirivar’s order, she’d been told the girls would not get to 海角社区官网in time and would be taken directly to Woodview, the youth detention facility near London where some of the girls had been previously strip searched. It was the same facility Sirivar had ordered one of the girls be transferred from to avoid being subjected to that treatment.

“I am extremely concerned,” Sirivar said. “These young people ought to have been brought to court. Period. Full stop.”

During a two-day inquiry, ministry staff were called to testify in front of Sirivar, saying the Kenora facility 鈥� which typically houses boys 鈥� was the only place that had capacity on an emergency basis.

On the second day, a senior official responsible for youth placement in custody, Teresa Sauve, admitted under oath they had defied the judge’s order to have the girls placed in an open facility 鈥� with fewer restrictions and where they were not subject to strip searches 鈥� when they sent them back to Woodview.

Sirivar then made the unusual decision to extend the hearing well past the court’s closing time to allow new bail hearings for two of the girls to go ahead, saying there had been a material change in circumstances to warrant the review. Both girls were eventually released 鈥� with paperwork being completed around 10 p.m.

“I don鈥檛 think I鈥檝e ever been inside a courtroom this late,鈥� Sirivar said at one point from the bench.

She would later commend court staff for working the long hours 鈥渂ecause of what was at stake.”

In her written reasons for releasing the two girls, Sirivar would write of the ordeal:听鈥淭he ministry鈥檚 decision-making . . . demonstrates an indifference to the well-being of the young people before the court.”

鈥業 thought she went to see Avatar鈥�

During the bail phase of the case, which largely got underway in January 2023, the girls each had separate hearings. During those appearances, a youth court judge, Sirivar, heard about their personal circumstances from family members who proposed themselves as sureties 鈥� people responsible for ensuring an accused person鈥檚 bail conditions are followed in the community.

The night Lee was killed, most of the girls met up at Yorkdale mall before heading downtown on the subway, where they encountered the 59-year-old man and his companion in a parkette near Union Station.

For the seven girls who went to the mall (one joined the group later), there were similar cover stories used for where they would be that night 鈥� including sleeping over at a friend鈥檚 house or at the movies.

One of the girls, her mother testified, said she wanted to see “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which had been released the day before. The runtime for the second movie in James Cameron’s fantastical franchise was just over three hours, meaning she wasn鈥檛 expecting her daughter home until around 12:30 a.m.

鈥淚 thought she went to see ‘Avatar’ at Yorkdale,鈥� her mom testified, adding she hadn鈥檛 given her permission to go downtown. When she messaged her daughter at midnight, she responded that she was on her way home. In messages back and forth, the girl sent pictures of a hospital, but the mom couldn鈥檛 make out which one it was or why she was there.

All eight girls had ended up at SickKids after the swarming on Lee when one of their male friends who travelled downtown with them was accidentally injured while play fighting.

The mom said she felt 鈥渟ick, angry, sad (and) disappointed鈥� when she heard the allegations, learning from police that her daughter had been arrested for second-degree murder.

The next time the mom would see her daughter was in an interview room at a downtown police station.

After an officer had stepped out, leaving the mother alone with her child, the woman fiercely told her not to say anything in detention and that the mother would speak to a lawyer.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 detention?鈥� the girl asked.

鈥淛ail,鈥� the mom replied sternly.