YOUTH, 16, FACES 12 CHARGES AFTER TEEN'S DEATH

Remains In Custody At Detention Centre. 'I Want To Stay Away From Bad
Influences. I Don't Want To End Up In Trouble Anymore'

Dawn Reilly sat in the courtroom looking more and more frail as the
circumstances of her 13-year-old daughter's death spilled out before her.

They were the kind of things a parent never wants to hear.

Shocking details emerged from the bail hearing yesterday of the
16-year-old Hudson youth accused of supplying Reilly's daughter
Stevie with the drug ecstasy, which caused her death on Feb. 6.

But the victim's mother emerged from the court hearing with a simple
message to other parents.

"Talk to your kids more," Reilly said to several reporters.

She said she could never have associated her daughter with the
details she heard in court.

The accused learned yesterday he now faces a total of 12 charges,
including three sexual offences related to a relationship he is
alleged to have had with Stevie Reilly, who at 13 was one year away
from the legal age of consent for sex in Canada. He pleaded not
guilty to all counts.

Surete du Quebec Sgt. Eric Roy told Youth Court Judge Jean Gravel
that investigators were initially told only that Stevie and another
girl went to the accused's home to purchase and consume the drug.

Stevie grew sick quickly after taking the equivalent of one pill.
When Stevie returned to the other girl's house, she began to vomit
and complained of a headache. Hours later, Stevie went into cardiac
arrest. She was later placed on life support at a hospital and died
of brain damage the next day.

The SQ learned that Stevie and her friend had had sex previously with
the youth while experimenting with the illicit drug, Roy testified.
One of the drug-related charges stems from a night in January when
the teenager is alleged to have hosted a game of strip poker with
both girls and sold them the drug.

Roy also said the police had statements from other teenagers in and
around Hudson who said they bought ecstasy from the accused as well.
His home computer was seized. It is being analyzed as investigators
learned he allegedly took orders for the drug via an Internet chat site.

Three new drug-trafficking charges were filed in the case yesterday,
adding to an existing one. The youth is also charged with obstructing
justice by allegedly instructing Stevie Reilly's friend to not tell
police where she got the drug from hours after the girl died.

The boy's mother testified yesterday she was willing to take him into
her custody for "24 hours a day." She testified her life was
"completely changed" when she learned her son was arrested in Stevie's death.

"Terrible. Horrified," the accused's mother said when crown
prosecutor Mylene Gregoire asked how she reacted to the news of Stevie's death.

"What he did was terrible, bad judgment. But he's not a bad kid. I
told him he made a big mistake."

Testifying on his own behalf, the youth said the week he has spent in
a youth detention centre has been an eye-opening experience. He said
he has trouble sleeping and has cried over Stevie's death every night
since his arrest.

"I don't really want to go back," he said. "I want to stay away from
bad influences. I don't want to end up in trouble anymore."

But Gravel ruled the youth will have to remain in custody while his
case is before the courts. The judge cited the fact the youth is also
accused of violating the conditions of a release to which he agreed
after he was charged in November with uttering threats.

The judge also said the accused's mother did not show sufficient
evidence that she could control her son.

The case is to return to court next Tuesday.