Alberta woman who killed family when she was 12 must continue to follow curfew

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MEDICINE HAT, Alta. – A woman who was just 12 when she helped murder her family in southeast Alberta must continue to abide by a curfew.

The now 20-year-old woman, who can’t be named, appeared by closed-circuit TV in Medicine Hat Court of Queen’s Bench for a curfew review.

The woman’s lawyer had previously argued his client is a “poster child” for how young offenders can be rehabilitated and asked for her 11:30 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. curfew to be lifted.

But Crown prosecutor Brandy Shaw said the curfew makes supervision more effective and reduces risk to the community.

Justice Scott Brooker opted to keep the restriction in place.

The woman was convicted along with her then-boyfriend, Jeremy Steinke, of killing her mother, father and younger brother in their Medicine Hat home in 2006.

She has fewer than two-and-a-half years left on her 10-year sentence and is to be fully released without supervision when she is 22.

The court will revisit the curfew during the next annual review, which is set for September.

The twice-annual reports on how the girl has been doing in care have been presented to the court since 2008.

Court heard during the trials that the girl was angry with her parents because they were displeased with her relationship with Steinke, who was 23 at the time. Her parents felt he was too old for their daughter.

All of the victims were stabbed to death.

Steinke received a life sentence without the chance of parole for 25 years.

A year ago, court was told that the woman “continues to express significant remorse for her role in these crimes” and that the remorse was considered genuine.

(CJCY, The Canadian Press)

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