The young man who murdered North Delta teen Laura Szendrei should be dealt with in the adult penal system, two psychiatrists have testified.
Dr. Paul Janke, a psychiatrist with the Youth Forensic Psychiatric Service for B.C., testified Wednesday that the young man requires "indefinite" supervision that's "well beyond" what's available in the youth system.
Janke said that "on a very conservative basis," the killer, now 20, should be closely supervised well into his late 40s or early 50s.
"He would be far outside the range of youth that we treat," said Janke, an expert witness called by the Crown. "Supervision should be extended indefinitely."
Janke testified during the third day of a four-day hearing into whether the confessed murderer, whose identity remains shielded by the Youth Criminal Justice System, should be sentenced as a youth or an adult.
The young man was just days shy of his 18th birthday when he attacked 15-year-old Szendrei while she was walking along a path in Mackie Park forest in the 8200-block of 110th Street in North Delta.
Szendrei died in hospital on Sept. 26, 2010, one day after the vicious broad daylight beating. The young man was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder last year. called by the the court the
The court heard that he used zap straps to restrain Szendrei and had struck her three times over the head with a metal pipe as she struggled to escape.
On Tuesday, the victim's mother, Rachael Szendrei, clapped her hands when Dr. Kulwant Riar, an expert witness defence, told young man requires treatment not available to him in the youth correctional system. The grieving mom appeared heartened by the psychiatrist's testimony. "We're trying to be positive," she told reporters outside the courthouse Tuesday.
She said she "truly" believes her daughter's killer will get a life sentence. "Laura deserves this, please," she said.
On Monday the court also heard that the young man confessed to an undercover police officer that he sexually attacked three other women in Burns Bog, prior to Szendrei's murder.
The sentencing hearing was scheduled to wrap up late Thursday afternoon.
