Jane Creba

Taxslave2

Senate Member
Aug 13, 2022
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We could fix the problem by doing away with the whole parole system. Eliminate a few thousand high paying government jobs at the same time.
 

Taxslave2

Senate Member
Aug 13, 2022
5,037
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I don't buy the economics argument for the death penalty so I don't buy it for early release either. Yes, it would be a boom to the construction industry.
Ride along on a fire truck when they get to deal with the aftermath of a drunk behind the wheel. It will change your whole perception of the death penalty.
 

Ron in Regina

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Regina, Saskatchewan

spaminator

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Convicted killer in Jane Creba slaying denied parole again

Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Published Jul 23, 2025 • Last updated 8 hours ago • 2 minute read

Jorrell Simpson-Rowe was convicted of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and five weapons charges in the Boxing Day 2005 slaying of Jane Creba. He's seen in a court handout photo copied by the photographer.
Jorrell Simpson-Rowe was convicted of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated assault and five weapons charges in the Boxing Day 2005 slaying of Jane Creba. He's seen in a court handout photo copied by the photographer. Photo by File photo /Toronto Sun
He’s the last one still serving time for the Boxing Day shootout that claimed the life of an innocent Toronto teen out shopping with her family.


Jorrell Simpson-Rowe, 37, is serving a life sentence with no possibility of parole for seven years after being convicted in 2009 of second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Jane Creba as well as aggravated assault and unauthorized possession of a firearm.


Just 17 at the time, he’s spent almost two decades behind bars and unlike his three co-accused, he’s been denied parole at every turn.

In the latest decision, obtained by the Toronto Sun, Simpson-Rowe was found to present a “high risk” of violent reoffending and a low potential for reintegration.

At his trial, Simpson-Rowe denied firing a gun, saying it was handed to him after the shootout. Much later at a board hearing, he admitted his gang had happened to run into rivals and someone gave him the gun, which he maintained he only fired after the other group shot at him.


Simpson-Rowe was arrested 30 minutes later, still in possession of the firearm which had been stolen in a home invasion.


He had a troubled childhood, of course. His father was deported for criminal activity when he was nine and he reported his mom was emotionally abusive and absent because she was working to support him. He was diagnosed as a kid with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, anxiety, as well as antisocial and narcissistic personality traits.

“You have been described as having an explosive temper when you were a youth,” the board wrote in its September 2024 decision. “You learned at an early age that violence solved problems and got you what you wanted. Police noted you were a member of a criminal gang, and CSC (Correctional Service of Canada) information continues to document you as an ‘active’ security threat group associate.”


Jane Creba is shown in an undated family handout photo. The 15-year-old was fatally shot on Yonge St. Boxing Day 2005.
Jane Creba is shown in an undated family handout photo. The 15-year-old was fatally shot on Yonge St. Boxing Day 2005. Toronto Sun files
The two-member panel noted Simpson-Rowe’s behaviour has been “problematic” throughout his sentence and he’s been bounced back and forth between medium and maximum security. He’s been involved in altercations with fellow inmates, found with a contraband cellphone and in April 2023, a homemade stabbing weapon was discovered in his pocket. In 2023 alone, there were 17 incidents, including disciplinary problems, uttering threats, physical assault on staff, and possession of unauthorized items/contraband.

“You have had several relationships while incarcerated, including more than one marriage,” the parole board added, noting that he scores at a moderate risk for future intimate partner violence.

“Your risk remains unmanageable on a day parole release,” the panel concluded. “Your risk on release remains too high.”

mmandel@postmedia.com
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spaminator

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Two guilty in Jane Creba slaying convicted of other offences, another faces murder charge

Author of the article:Michele Mandel
Published Jul 23, 2025 • Last updated 9 hours ago • 4 minute read

Murder victim Jane Creba (Toronto Sun file photo)
Murder victim Jane Creba (Toronto Sun file photo)
On that tragic Boxing Day almost 20 years ago, 41 bullet fragments, eight shell casings and two bullets lay scattered along the Yonge St. sidewalk where a gun battle suddenly erupted between two rival groups on the busiest shopping day of the year.


Toronto teen Jane Creba was caught in the crossfire of their senseless gang shootout, forever frozen at 15 in that haunting black and white portrait we all came to know so well, a haunting symbol of the innocence our city lost the day she went shopping and never came home.


But what an insult it is to her memory that two decades on, three of the four men convicted in her death were freed by the Parole Board — with all three later rearrested; the most recent being last week’s shocking arrest of Jeremiah Valentine for allegedly committing yet another murder.

Jane Creba is shown in an undated family handout photo. The 15-year-old was fatally shot on Yonge St. Boxing Day 2005.
Jane Creba is shown in an undated family handout photo. The 15-year-old was fatally shot on Yonge St. Boxing Day 2005. Toronto Sun files
And just seven months after he was granted full parole.

While it was never determined who fired the fatal shot, the Crown alleged the Riverdale Collegiate student was killed by a .357 Magnum bullet fired by the Magnum-toting Valentine. In 2009, the then 27-year-old pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years.


That was hardly a life sentence. Valentine was first freed on day parole in November 2023 and granted full parole this past January — despite his last psychological assessment in 2021, and validated in 2023, showing there was a 76% chance of his violent reoffending within five years if he were released.

Still, the parole board rolled the dice and figured he no longer posed an “undue risk” to the community. If the allegations now against him are proven true, the 33-year-old victim he’s alleged to have gunned down would most certainly have disagreed.

Two of Valentine’s co-accused have also had further run-ins with the law.

A Dec. 22, 2009 court sketch of Jeremiah Valentine in court in Toronto. Valentine pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Dec. 26, 2005 death of Jane Creba. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. (Alex Tavshunshky / Global TV
A Dec. 22, 2009 court sketch of Jeremiah Valentine in court in Toronto. Valentine pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the Dec. 26, 2005 death of Jane Creba. He was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 12 years. (Alex Tavshunshky / Global TV)
Louis Woodcock and Tyshaun Barnett — both under court orders not to possess weapons — came downtown that day packing loaded handguns and opened fire outside the Foot Locker in a brazen gun battle with Valentine. Barnett fired one shot from a .25-calibre handgun before it jammed while at least seven slugs came from Woodcock’s 9-mm semi-automatic Ruger.


A jury acquitted them of second-degree murder, but convicted them of manslaughter. The Crown sought a prison term of 15 years, but Justice Gladys Pardu took their age — both were 18 at the time — and their expressions of regret into account.


“The possibility that they can turn around their lives and become productive law-abiding members of the community cannot be entirely discounted,” she said.

So she sentenced each to 12 years — but thanks to the two-for-one credit for their four years of pre-sentence custody, they had less than four years remaining and were soon set free.

The judge’s optimism proved sadly misplaced.

In 2017, with just one day remaining on his parole, Woodcock was arrested in Kingston and charged with drug offences. In 2018, he was convicted of having illegal possession of 30 grams of marijuana and sentenced to time served. Last year, it was Toronto Police who arrested the 36-year-old, this time on numerous firearm and drug-related charges which are still pending.


Barnett fared no better.

In 2020, he was swept up in a Toronto Police gang investigation of the Eglinton West Crips and charged with drug offences. In July 2022, he pleaded guilty to three drug-related charges and was sentenced to three years.

Last year, despite his lifetime weapons ban, Barnett, 37, was sentenced to another 11 years in prison for firing four shots into a man’s legs in Ottawa in what the Crown described as a “revenge” shooting in April 2022.

Only Jorrell Simpson-Rowe is still safely behind bars — despite his many attempts at parole.

Simpson-Rowe was six weeks shy of his 18th birthday when he fired a 9-mm handgun several times during the shootout and wounded three people. Convicted of second-degree murder, he was sentenced as an adult to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years.


There was no sign of any remorse. When told the shootout caused Creba’s death, he responded, “How do they know she wouldn’t have been hit by a car or something?“

In 2015, the Parole Board denied his attempt at day parole and/or full parole, finding he resorted to using violence to get what he wants.

In 2020 and again last year, they turned him down, saying he continues to be at a high risk of violent recidivism.

They’ve been rightly cautious with Simpson-Rowe. Now we can question whether the parole board should have exercised the same caution with his fellow gunmen.
mmandel@postmedia.com
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