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The Tragic Story of a Teen Murdered by Her Peers — Reena Virk
The young teen was bullied relentlessly and was brutally murdered at a party by eight classmates
Reena Virk was born in Saanich, British Columbia, Canada, on March 10th, 1983. Her mother, Suman, was from an Indo-Canadian family, and her father, Manjit, was an Indian immigrant. The family was Jehovah’s Witnesses, and with their combination of cultures and beliefs, they were often described as “a minority within a minority.”
Reena was the oldest of three children and was raised in the quiet, middle-class suburb of View Royal, which was a predominantly white, upper-class neighborhood. Growing up, Reena sought acceptance from her peers but was bullied for her appearance and race. In middle school, she started to act out and pick fights at home. Her parents learned that she’d been bullied since she started school and suspected that she was slipping into depression because of it.
In May of 1994, the family moved, and Reena transferred to Burnside Elementary School. Her parents hoped this would end the bullying, and first, it seemed like it was working. Reena was becoming more social and met a new friend, which she was very excited about. But when that new friend suddenly shunned Reena, she became distraught, and the bullying continued.
In 1996 Reena graduated elementary school and started attending Colquitz Middle School. She met a new group of friends there, who she viewed as the “cool kids.” They stayed out past their curfews, drank, and smoked. To Reena, they had the freedom she so desperately craved; freedom from her parents and their religious rules.
Reena felt accepted by her new friend group, but her parents disapproved of them, and Reena started acting out even more. During this time, her father, Manjit, recalls reciting scripture to Reena, saying, “bad associations spoil useful habits.”
In 1996, when Reena was thirteen, one of her friends told her that if she wanted out of her house, it was easy: She could get into foster care by telling the police she was being abused. So, she reported her parents for physical abuse, though no charges were laid due to lack of evidence.
