Publication ban lifted on young man who murdered teen in B.C. park

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Mike Szendrei holds a picture of his daughter Laura during a press conference in North Delta, B.C., on October 13, 2010. The name of a young man who was sentenced as an adult for killing a 15-year-old girl in a park near Vancouver is no longer covered by a publication ban.Twenty-one-year-old Wyatt DeBruin pleaded guilty to killing Laura Szendrei in a park in Delta in September 2010 and was sentenced last fall to life.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Richard Lam

SURREY, B.C. – The name of a young man who was sentenced as an adult for killing a 15-year-old girl in a park near Vancouver is no longer covered by a publication ban.

Twenty-one-year-old Wyatt DeBruin pleaded guilty to killing Laura Szendrei in a park in Delta in September 2010 and was sentenced last fall to life.

DeBruin, who was just shy of his 18th birthday when the crime happened, was sentenced as an adult, but his lawyer applied for a temporary publication ban on his name.

His defence lawyer, Donna Turko, confirms the publication ban is now lifted, though a ban on photographs of DeBruin remains in place.

Szendrei was beaten as she walked through a forested area of Mackie Park to meet a group of friends, who heard her screams and rushed to find her.

The teen was beaten so severely she died the following morning in hospital.

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