Jane Creba

TORONTO — One of the men found guilty in the Boxing Day shooting death of Toronto teenager Jane Creba will appeal his second-degree murder conviction Tuesday.

Jorrell Simpson-Rowe is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for seven years after he was sentenced as an adult for the Dec. 26, 2005, shooting.

Creba, 15, was shopping with her mother and sister on Toronto’s busy Yonge Street when she was killed by a stray bullet shot during a gang dispute.


Simpson-Rowe, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, is appealing his conviction on three grounds.

• He maintains the verdict was unreasonable, that he was “forced” into a jury trial when he wanted to be tried by a judge alone, and that the description of the shooters did not conclusively match him.
• Another man, Jeremiah Valentine, also pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting. Experts testified that the bullet which killed Creba most likely came from Valentine’s gun.
• Two others — Tyshaun Barnett and Louis Woodcock — were found guilty of manslaughter and handed 12-year sentences. An unidentified youth was found not guilty of manslaughter.

Creba’s death is considered one of the city’s most notorious killings and drew national attention to the issue of gang violence and illegal guns on Toronto’s streets.