Day parole revoked for Reena Virk’s killer after failed drug test

Kerry Sim, formerly Kelly Ellard, is seen in a file image.

The B.C. woman who murdered Reena Virk as a teenager has had her parole privileges revoked after testing positive for methamphetamines.

That failed drug test was the reason Kerry Sim, who changed her name from Kelly Ellard, was arrested on a warrant for breaching her conditions back in January, according to newly released documents from the Parole Board of Canada.

Sim has been in custody since, and the board revoked her day parole on June 23.

While Sim denied using illegal drugs during her release – claiming the methamphetamines on her test were a “false positive” caused by her prescribed medication – the board’s written decision noted she had also avoided giving urine samples on two previous occasions, which was another breach of her conditions.

“It was confirmed the medication you were taking would not provide a false positive,” the decision added.

“The board concludes there is reliable and persuasive information to find you failed to abstain from drugs.”

Prior to that incident, Sim had been allowed day parole since 2017, giving her more freedom to raise the two children she birthed while in prison.

She remains serving a life sentence for drowning 14-year-old Virk underneath Victoria’s Craigflower Bridge on Nov. 14, 1997, after the victim had already been swarmed and beaten by Sim and her friends.

Sim was one year older than Virk at the time, and is now 42.

‘Negative and non-compliant’

According to the Parole Board of Canada decision, Sim’s behaviour had been “negative and non-compliant” in the months leading up to her failed drug test as well.

Staff at the community residential facility where she was living, located somewhere in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, reported Sim sometimes failed to sign in or report her whereabouts, as required.

“You were defiant and argumentative, and mocked and shouted at staff,” the decision reads.

When police arrested her back in January, she went “screaming and kicking,” according to the document. She told the board she experienced a panic attack at the time, thinking about the impact her incarceration would have on her children.

After returning to prison, Sim also tested positive for a non-prescribed medication she had apparently been given by a fellow inmate – another factor that weighed in the board’s decision to revoke her parole.

The board did give Sim credit for “working hard to be a good mother,” while facing the many challenges of single parenting, and for going through “periods of stability” during her community release.

That stability deteriorated as she was under decreased supervision, however.

“Your behaviour in the community prior to your suspension is inconsistent with what is minimally required or expected on an earned release,” the decision reads.

“The board concludes that you will, by reoffending before the expiration of your sentence, present an undue risk to society. Therefore, the board revokes your day parole.”