The death of a teenage girl due to alcohol and drug abuse is a homicide

Victoria’s mother, whose teenage daughter died in 2021 from a toxic combination of alcohol and drugs, has finally received confirmation that her daughter’s death was not an accident.

On Wednesday, Tracy Sims learned that the death of her daughter, 18-year-old Samantha Sims-Somerville, has been ruled a homicide by the BC Coroner’s Service after it was initially classified as an accident.

“Right now I’m processing the news that my daughter has been killed,” Sims said.

That’s what she had long believed and tried to admit after police closed the investigation into Sims-Somerville’s death without charges.

Sims believes her daughter and friend were recruited by a mutual friend, invited to a Yates Street apartment where older men they did not know were staying, and drugged with lethal doses of GHB.

She believes that people are criminally responsible for her daughter’s death and demanded that charges be brought.

Sims-Somerville and a friend were transported from the apartment to the hospital, where the teen died the following evening, April 10, 2021, from a lack of oxygen to her brain caused by the combination of alcohol and drugs in her system.

The friend was placed on life support but survived a near-fatal overdose of GHB and Rohypnol.

Sims-Somerville’s mother has spent the three and a half years since her daughter’s death fighting for justice.

On Wednesday, she received a call from the coroner informing her that Sims-Somerville’s death had been ruled a homicide.

“Follow-up investigation revealed evidence that Samantha and her friend had intentionally administered an unregulated substance, without their knowledge, by another person at the residence,” reads the coroner’s report, which calls “homicide” a neutral term that does not imply guilt or blame. .

Toxicological analysis showed slight alcohol poisoning and detected GHB, the concentration of which is difficult to determine due to its rapid metabolism, the report reads.

Sims appealed to coroners to reopen the inquest. The service agreed in March to reopen the investigation because of information that was not available during the original investigation.

While this is painful news, it feels like a successful end to a long fight, she said.

“It’s the best thing I can do for Samantha,” said Sims, who has spent years dealing with her own investigation into her daughter’s death.

She’s not sure what will happen next, but she would like to see charges brought against her. “I did everyone else’s job. What mother should do what I did?”

Although foul play was initially suspected, Victoria Police closed the investigation without filing charges in September 2022.

Dissatisfied, Sims filed criminal charges as a private citizen against two people she believed were responsible for her daughter’s death. She has assembled a 45-page package of evidence, including text messages and social media posts, that she believes show that two people were involved in her daughter’s death.

In March, the British Columbia prosecutor’s office declined to approve the charges, telling Sims that the case did not meet the required standard for a substantial likelihood of conviction on the evidence and was in the public interest.

Sims expressed hope that the information she provided earlier would be enough to approve the fees.

“It’s all there. The names, the evidence and their presence there at that time along with photos, videos, texts and other statements that prove beyond a shadow of a doubt who did it,” she said.

A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said it would not review the previous decision and would only consider filing charges if police or another party made recommendations.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Cheryl Major said the department turned over all of its evidence to Crown counsel after Sims privately swore in regarding the private allegations.

“At this time, it is too early to determine whether further action will be taken regarding this act,” Major said in an email, noting that the Office of the Police Complaints Commission is actively investigating the matter. She declined to comment further.

Sims filed a complaint with the OPCC against three officers investigating her daughter’s death, accusing the officers of ignoring important evidence.

She said she had lost trust in Victoria Police and wanted a different police force to investigate her daughter’s death.

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