Girl, 14, sentenced over three murders

November 9, 2007 - 7:56AM

A judge has given the youngest Canadian to be convicted of multiple murder the maximum 10-year sentence allowed for juveniles, for the slayings of her mother, father and eight-year-old brother.

Justice Scott Brooker said he needed to give the now 14-year-old girl 10 years, the most he could under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, to hold her accountable for her crimes.

The girl will spend four of those years in custody and another four and a half years under supervision in the community. Brooker gave her credit for the 18 months she has already spent in custody.

The girl, who cannot be named because of her age, was found guilty in July of three counts of first-degree murder. She was just 12 when her family members were stabbed and slashed to death in their home in the southeastern Alberta city of Medicine Hat in April 2006.

"The circumstances surrounding these murders are horrific. It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this," said Brooker, adding that the murder of her brother was incomprehensible.

During her trial, the court learned that she had turned into a rebellious teen in the months leading up to the murders and had suggested on several occasions that she wanted her parents dead. Jurors were told that she was particularly angry with them for not approving of her relationship with a much-older man.

Brooker said her parents' concern showed that they "were wonderful parents who loved (her) and were at all times acting in her best interests".

The judge told the girl that she can never undo what she did to her mother, father and little brother.

"But what you can do is dedicate your life to being the woman your mother, father and brother would be proud of."

The girl's former boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, 24, is also charged with first-degree murder, but has not yet gone to trial. His lawyer will argue in February that his trial should be moved from Medicine Hat because of the intense publicity