ELLARD KNOCKED UP IN JAIL
Father is man with gang links who was out on day parole when he was allowed visits with murderer in spring
She is one of B.C.’s best-known killers — found guilty of brutally beating and drowning a teenage girl under a Victoria bridge in 1997.
Now, Kelly Marie Ellard is about to become a mother.
Despite serving a life sentence in prison for killing 14-year-old Reena Virk, Ellard is now about eight months’ pregnant, the Vancouver Sun has learned.
The father is a man with gang links who was out on day parole when he was allowed the intimate visits with Ellard in the spring.
Darwin Dorozan, 41, was granted full parole in August, but it has since been revoked after an alleged breach.
The Parole Board of Canada said in its Aug. 3 ruling releasing Dorozan that “there are concerns about your relationship with your girlfriend, who is pregnant.”
Ellard, 33, isn’t identified as the girlfriend in the documents, but Postmedia News has confirmed with several sources that she is Dorozan’s pregnant girlfriend.
Dorozan was given credit by the two-person panel for being “open and accountable about the relationship,” the parole ruling says.
But the ruling also said Dorozan “will likely face significant stress relating to the birth of your child.”
Dorozan is serving a seven-year, two-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2012 to 11 counts of breakand-enter and break-and-enter with intent. Dorozan broke into several homes in 2010 and 2011 to steal things to finance a heroin addiction, the board noted.
“Some of the residences were occupied and during a confrontation with a male victim, you sprayed him in the face about five times with bear spray.”
Ellard had three trials before she was convicted in 2005. She was first found guilty in 2000, but the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial. The second time around, the jury couldn’t reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared. She was convicted of second-degree murder after her third trial.
Though she was 15 when she killed Virk, Ellard was raised to adult court and was sentenced to life with no hope of parole for seven years.
Last May, the Parole Board of Canada denied Ellard day parole, saying that while she was finally admitting some responsibility for Virk’s death, there was “ongoing minimization” of her crime.
And the two board members told Ellard that they were concerned about her admitted drug use inside prison, as well as “your lack of insight into why you committed the murder and your sense of entitlement with respect to parole.”
The ruling made reference to Ellard’s relationship with Dorozan, though he wasn’t named.
“You have family support and the support of your boyfriend,” the board members said. “Your boyfriend is a federal parolee, but in community assessment No. 6 he is assessed by (the Correctional Service of Canada) as a positive source of support.”
The parole board did note the progress that Ellard has made in recent years in jail — quitting her drug habit, improving her education and working in the prison’s library.
The Sun has learned that Ellard and Dorozan got to know each other as pen pals, writing for more than a year before being allowed to have a private family visit.
The Correctional Service of Canada refused to comment on Ellard or her pregnancy.
“The Privacy Act prevents us from discussing the specifics of an offender’s case,” Correctional communications adviser Audrey Jacques said.
But, speaking generally, she said all federal inmates are eligible for private family visits if they and their visitors meet certain criteria.
The visits take place in a separate building within the confines of a prison complex and can occur every two months for up to 72 hours at a time.
No one is commenting on what will happen to the baby once it’s born given both parents are in prison.
Ellard’s mother, Susan Pakos, refused to comment when contacted by The Sun.
“I have no comment on that whole subject and I would appreciate it if no one ever contacted me or my family again,” Pakos said. “I am not confirming whether it is true or not.”
She said both her family and the Virks “have been through a lot and should be left alone.
“I wish the media and everyone would just let this case rest and everybody just get on (with) their lives,” Pakos said.
The Correctional Service provides pregnant inmates with prenatal and postnatal care, Jacques said.
Some of that care takes place within the prison. But the Service “relies on community services to provide other specialized care, including the services of obstetricians and gynecologists. Arrangements are made at an outside hospital for childbirth,” she said.
Babies can stay with their incarcerated mother under the “mother-child residential program,” which began in 1997, Jacques said.
“The program is intended to foster positive relationships between federally incarcerated women and their children by providing a supportive environment that promotes stability and continuity for the mother-child relationship and to assist in the rehabilitation and successful reintegration of these women offenders,” she said.