The senseless murder of Stefanie Rengel

I am deeply saddened for the lost experienced by Stefanie Rengel’s parents, relatives, and friends. I can fully understand Stefanie’s stepmother Maureen expressing her grief,

“Your Dad and I are missing you terribly. Our world will never be the same. We love you so very much and don’t know how we will ever go on … “

She also urged anyone with information to talk to police, and called for changes to the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“We want these monsters to be tried as adults for first-degree murder. Take this to your local politician and fight,” she wrote.

While visiting the “In Loving Memory of Stefanie Rengel” Facebook group, I saw this loving and beautiful Facebook video. (see this CBC report of the Facebook challenges in this case.) And I realized and saw just how many people have been touched by Stefanie’s senseless death.

Many people saw a wonderful girl’s life tragically cut short, while some other expressed deep hatred for the alleged killers. Like Stefanie’s mom, the doubts and challenges to the Youth Criminal Justice Act after such a senseless murder are expected. At the same time, we have to realize the Parliament of Canada passed this act to achieve a certain goal for the good of the society in the long run.

I am no legal expert but I will use a quote that I think may shed some light in this tragic time,

“It’s easy to be against the death penalty the night of a hanging. But it’s more difficult to be against the death penalty the night of a murder. The acid test is not to be a libertarian when it’s popular. It’s to be a libertarian when it’s unpopular.”
- former Chief Justice, The Right Honourable Antonio Lamer

It is difficult to reason when we have a tragic lost of life in the case of senseless murder of Stefanie Rengel, but reason we must (along with passion). And we have to let the normal court system and procedure to guide us in this difficult time.

We should not and cannot change the law while a case is in progress, but the murder of Stefanie has certainly put the spotlight on whether we need to reexamine our Youth Criminal Justice Act.

In some respect, we may have lots to learn from other jurisdictions in the world that have also gone through tragic events that shocked their nations. For example, this Nov. 2000 BBC World service report, “When Children Kill Children” (a case of two ten-year-old boys killing a two-year-old toddler in UK) can perhaps provide one of the many things for us to consider as a nation. This is not an easy task. Nothing is easy when there is such a tragic lost of life and the alleged killers are two youths.

Stefanie, may you rest in peace. It is tragic that Canada has to know you because of your death. I and many other Canadians would much rather know of you because of your future achievements. In this tragic time, my thoughts are with your parents, relatives, and friends. I would like to end this post with a message I read from the Facebook group remembering you,

“I’ll hug my 14 year old daughter a little tighter and be grateful that I still can.“

We should all hug our love ones a little tighter because we never know what will happen to us next. I guess this is what some people call “living life to its fullest”.

Goodbye Stefanie. We will remember you.