12 Year Old Girl Guilty Of Setting Woman On Fire

Friday, February 16, 2007 at 17:05

 

 

A guilty verdict was read this morning in the case of a 12 year old girl accused with setting a La Ronge woman on fire in April 2006.

 

The youth, who cannot be identified because of her age, sat quietly in court this morning as the judge found her guilty of Aggravated Assault in the April 24th incident, which left 26 year old Tracy Bird with second and third degree burns to half of her body.

 

The judge read his verdict in length and came to his decision despite harsh criticism towards the RCMP investigators.

 

The judge said quote — “someone in the investigation team apparently decided to limit the investigation to the actions of the accused youth and her companions and not to pursue other lines of investigation.”

 

The judge referred to the testimony of the RCMP officers who questioned Bird at the hospital following the incident.

 

The officers said although Bird mentioned she was attacked by a group of men who lit clothing on fire and threw it at her, a sexual assault kit was taken but never sent away for analysis.

 

The judge also stated perhaps there was no evidence of others being involved in the crime, because the police never bothered to investigate that possibility.

 

Crown Prosecutor Bob Lane says he feels the judge rendered the right decision and he’s happy with the guilty verdict.

 

Lane says in terms of sentencing, it’s still too early to say what course of action he will be taking. He says he needs to review the pre-sentencing report prior to making conclusions in terms of a sentence for the accused.

 

Defense lawyer Erin Layton says she and her client are satisfied with the verdict and a sentence to be served in the community will be sought.

 

The sentence will be read on April 26th in La Ronge Provincial Court, coincidentally two days following the one year anniversary of the incident.