TV series about Reena Virk murder started filming

[Percy]

The Virk family are Jehovah's Witnesses and this is the story about their wayward daughter Reena, who got into bad association. It was 25 years ago now.

https://vancouverisland.ctvnews.ca/murder-of-victoria-teen-reena-virk-subject-of-new-television-series-1.6194666?fbclid=IwAR15OyktYeYUx5haGzkp1rGxuSiRJnfKJgEcKoaD2F10ko5R6LlQt3K7Slw

The father gave his approval for filming. He went through a lot which is gut-wrenching to read about.

PC

[Lewis]

Thanks Percy for sharing this, I vaguely remember something about it in the 90s but reading up on now, cant imagine how the family has had to cope with this, tough for sure. 

Edited December 30, 2022 by Lewis

[Percy]

Manjit, her father, got arrested by the police due to Reena's accusation of sexual abuse. He lost his job, many of his friends and almost his family. The family at first sided with Reena! Can you imagine! She was urged to make the accusation by her new 'friends' for the money. Just before her death she confessed to the police she was influenced to make the accusation as she received a parcel of money from the government for her new foster situation, which the gang used to party with. When the money was gone so were the friends. The night she was killed, Manjit told me, she had remorse over everything and had already told of her confession to the police. She then intended to tell the gang the confession to the police and left to meet them. She never came back. Absolutely horrible!

Poor Manjit spent years to get his reputation back from all the government departments that still labelled him as a sexual offender.

His poor wife Suman died in an unfortunate choking incident in a coffee shop waiting for her bible study. So many misfortunes has happened to his family but he survived. He has now remarried to a lovely Indian sister.

Percy

[Sheep]

4 hours ago, Percy said:

Manjit, her father, got arrested by the police due to Reena's accusation of sexual abuse. He lost his job, many of his friends and almost his family. The family at first sided with Reena! Can you imagine! She was urged to make the accusation by her new 'friends' for the money. Just before her death she confessed to the police she was influenced to make the accusation as she received a parcel of money from the government for her new foster situation, which the gang used to party with. When the money was gone so were the friends. The night she was killed, Manjit told me, she had remorse over everything and had already told of her confession to the police. She then intended to tell the gang the confession to the police and left to meet them. She never came back. Absolutely horrible!

Poor Manjit spent years to get his reputation back from all the government departments that still labelled him as a sexual offender.

His poor wife Suman died in an unfortunate choking incident in a coffee shop waiting for her bible study. So many misfortunes has happened to his family but he survived. He has now remarried to a lovely Indian sister.

Percy

 

Her story is on Wikipedia.

 

I remember hearing this story in the late 1990s from a substitute Circuit Overseer who was serving our congregation. He was responding to the criticism we sometimes get for our so-called "two-witness rule." People say we're wrong for applying a 2,000-year-old rule to modern day child sexual abuse, and that it should not hold us back from punishing wrongdoers. However, it was for cases like this that Jehovah gave that law to his people Israel, to eliminate acting on false accusations. Reena's false accusation sent her father into a long, desperate attempt to clear his name, unnecessarily. If she had not withdrawn her accusation before she died, he would likely still be trying to clear himself even today. What a wicked world for not accepting Jehovah's clear directive!

[Percy]

1 hour ago, Sheep said:

If she had not withdrawn her accusation before she died, he would likely still be trying to clear himself even today.

That is the frightening part. He wrote his own book where he tells the story from when he arrived in Canada as a Sikh. His sister was already here and she liked Suman to meet with her brother. It is a long story which resulted in a secret marriage as her father wanted to arrange it. He was okay later with the marriage.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4593246-reena

Percy

[pnutts]

Falsely accusing someone of sexual child abuse has long been a tool of those who leave the truth,

even if they are officially still active in the congregation. One false brother used this tool extensively in several congregations.

It immediately closes minds to the truth of the matter, including those of many elders.

[Old]

I recall the news about Reena's death. It made news in Seattle. That was a long time ago and I had totally forgotten the incident untill this topic showed up. I did not know Viks were witnesses. My curiosity piqued,I bought the book on Amazon yesterday and just now completed reading it. I am sure the TV series cannot do the story justice. I will wait and see, In the meantime I reccomend the book.

Edited January 1, 2023 by Old

[pnutts]

At the time the news reports seemed to suggest that only the father was a witness at the time, but later mother became one.

About 2 years ago the girl - killer was allowed day parole.

[Percy]

17 hours ago, pnutts said:

only the father was a witness at the time

News reporters are too much in a rush to get the story out and don't have time to check their 'facts'. Manjit's wife Suman came from the first Punjabi family here. Suman's mother Tarsem did have opposition from her husband but he came to appreciate the love from the congregation and often came to our meetings. Lots of sadness in that family but they have hope of better times in the New World.

Percy

[Amygdala]

 I also remembered seeing it in the news in the 90’s, and it was a huge shock back then. I didn’t keep up with the details, so that extra info about being in a Witness family I had no idea about. Thanks for the info.

[Esined]

What a horrible death for that poor girl, who at 14 was obviously misled and did not deserve to die like that, and what awful, disgusting “friends.” I had never heard this story. That poor brother really went through a lot on so many levels, and it’s amazing how forgiving the family was.

[Esined]

I just found this editorial the brother wrote in 2019:

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-no-one-stood-up-for-carson-crimeni-or-for-reena-virk-as-they-died/

[Percy]

1 hour ago, Esined said:

it’s amazing how forgiving the family was.

There was a boy, Warren Glowatski, in the gang who Manjit and Suman had an apology from for the death of her daughter. It was arranged by the government. He was 17(?) but showed real remorse after everything. The girl, Kelly Ellard however, refused and was remorseless. She had a weekend off during her prison time and joined another woman in beating a third woman. Her present status is that she had 2 children while in prison and out on parole but living in an abusive arrangement with her boyfriend. Most news about the murder is now about her. Sad.

We had another movie a few years back, shot in Victoria, which was a remake of a British TV series called Broadchurch. The Canadian version was called Gracepoint and even starred the same british actor, David Tennant. It was about a murder of a young boy and though it was fiction, it had a terrible outcome. It remains to be seen if Reena's story will be told accurately or will they enhance the violence. I haven't been told if Manjit will be called to assist with production.

Percy

[Percy]

2 hours ago, Esined said:

I just found this editorial the brother wrote in 2019:

 

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-no-one-stood-up-for-carson-crimeni-or-for-reena-virk-as-they-died/

Thank you for that article. One commenter stated: "And here I thought that "Lord of the Flies" was a piece of fiction!" Lovely family photo and the kids: Reena, Simran, Amin. After the death of Reena, Manjit was put in charge of his nephew Jesse whose mother (Manjit's sister) was murdered by Jesse's father. The father had taken his son Jesse into a Subway and as his coat was covered in blood, a Subway employee called the police and the father was arrested. Later the young boy was brought home to the Virks.

Percy

[Esined]

Insane he has had to deal with that much trauma in his life and lose his wife, his sister, and his daughter in such awful ways. That's Job-level tragedy. I'm glad it seems he has found positive ways of dealing with all of it and so glad he has the truth.