The brother-in-law of a homeless Toronto man who died after police allege he was attacked by a group of teen girls told an Ontario court on Friday that his entire family is reeling from the loss.
Eric Shum read a victim impact statement at a sentencing hearing for one of the girls accused in the death of Kenneth Lee. The girl, who was 13 at the time of Lee’s death, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in June.
“My wife, mother-in-law and my children have been so distraught that it angers me to see them like this,” he told the court, adding his wife “has not been the same person” since losing her brother.
His wife is too distressed to work, has barely been sleeping and doesn’t seem to have an appetite, he said.
Shum said it has been difficult to balance supporting his family emotionally and financially as they grieve, and he feels as though he has been living “on pins and needles” in his own home.
“There are many times that I feel helpless trying to keep my family together,” he said.
Shum also teared up reading statements written by his wife Helen Shum as well as Angela Chopp, Lee’s cousin.
The statements by Helen Shum and Chopp were read to the court by prosecutors last month at a separate sentencing hearing for another of the accused. The statement read by Eric Shum on Friday was an updated version of one court previously heard at the other sentencing hearing.
Police have alleged that Lee, who was living in the city’s shelter system, died after he was swarmed and stabbed by a group of girls in December 2022.
Eight girls, all of them between the ages of 13 and 16, were arrested shortly afterward.
Four girls have pleaded guilty in the case in Ontario Court over the last few months – three to manslaughter and one to assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon.
The remaining four teens are set to stand trial in Superior Court next year, two of them in January and two in May. Three are charged with second-degree murder and one with manslaughter.
None of the girls can be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.