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By Jeff Mitchell

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Sep 29, 2005 - 12:00 AM

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Family's anger boils over as sentence delayed

Guilty plea in dumping of teen's body

OSHAWA -- A grieving family's anger and frustration boiled over Wednesday, when a man accused of dumping Kyla Holburn's lifeless body in a Whitby laneway appeared in court. While he has pleaded guilty to a single count of committing an indignity to a human body, 21-year-old Shane Vincent remains free. His lawyer, John Olver, asked for an adjournment until next month, at which time the Oshawa man will likely be sentenced. Mr. Vincent is the third man to plead guilty in connection with the discovery of 16-year-old Kyla's body near a Whitby apartment building on the night of Jan. 3. No one has been charged with causing the Oshawa girl's death. As they have on a number of occasions, Ms. Holburn's immediate family and a number of supporters attended court in Oshawa Wednesday morning, hoping for the judicial process to come to a conclusion with Mr. Vincent's sentencing. Kyla's Holburn's mother, Sarah, was visibly angry when she learned yet another adjournment was to be granted in the case. "I just feel it's totally unfair," a tearful Ms. Holburn said outside the courtroom. "It's very tiring. I can't focus on my own life. "I'm obsessed with what's happened to her," said Ms. Holburn, leaning on daughters Amanda and Alyssa for support outside the King Street East courthouse. "It's not right, what happened to her." It was an emotional outpouring for a woman who has been careful to avoid making public comments as the cases against Mr. Vincent and two other men -- Charles Ells and Michael Boden -- proceeded through the courts. Mr. Ells and Mr. Boden have pleaded guilty and were sentenced to six and nine months, respectively. Inside the courtroom, Crown counsel Ken Polley noted the ordeal undergone by Kyla's family as he grudgingly agreed to the adjournment. "The Crown is most anxious to proceed with this matter, as is the family of Ms. Holburn," he told Ontario Court Justice David Stone. "It's been quite a traumatic time for them." Mr. Olver said his client needs more time to deal with medical issues. Mr. Vincent, who sat slumped in a chair at the front of the courtroom, offered mostly monosyllabic answers as the judge asked him if he was entering his plea voluntarily, and understood the ramifications of his actions. "Yeah, I just want to get it over with," he told the judge. "I just want to plead -- plead guilty." Court has already heard that Kyla Holburn died after taking the powerful painkiller fentanyl sometime Jan. 2 or 3. Her body was discovered in the gathering darkness Jan. 3, lying on the pavement near a dumpster on Nichol Avenue in Whitby. A melee ensued outside the courthouse as news photographers and reporters, who waited more than a half hour for Mr. Vincent to emerge, closed in on him. Bent at the waist, he covered his face and rushed through the crowd, swearing at photographers who pursued him as he leapt into the back seat of a waiting car. He flashed a photographer an obscene hand gesture before the Sunfire sped off, its driver's side door yawning open as it made a sharp turn onto King Street. "Pay for it!" an observer yelled as Mr. Vincent dashed through the crowd of reporters. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 17