'I'm trying hard to change my life,' says teen who killed Brandy Vittrekwa

"Hope is not lost" for a teenage boy who admitted to beating a 17-year-old Whitehorse girland leaving her in the snow to die, testified a psychologist Tuesday.

The teen, who was 15 at the time of the crime in December 2014, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Brandy Vittrekwa's death. His sentencing hearing is taking place in Yukon Territorial Court this week. He cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

He said he was"extremely wasted" on alcohol and drugs when he beatVittrekwaunconscious. He told investigatorshe remembers knocking her out, dragging her off the trail, and wondering while he stumbled home that night whether she might die.

At the time, he wasalready serving a community sentence for an equally violent assault.

Dr. AnnePleydon, apsychologist testifying at the teen'ssentencing hearing, sayshe needs extensive treatment andcounsellingto reverse thechaotic, dysfunctionalhome life that's made him such an angry young man.

"If released tomorrow, there is a very high risk of violent criminal behaviour," she said.

"He needs to be managed."

'I feel horrible for what I did toBrandy'

The maximum sentence available for a youth who haspleaded guilty to manslaughter isthreeyears. Still, Pleydonsays "hope is not lost"that with one and a half years in youth custody, followed by the same amount of time in therapy and programming, he could be rehabilitated for full reintegration.

Crown prosecutors argue the boy's criminal past and the callous nature of the assault for which he haspleaded guilty to manslaughterdeserves an adult sentence. Typically it would be somewhere in the four- to six-year range.

Asked about an extended adult sentence, Pleydontold the court "research is definitive" showingrecividismis much higher among youths who have been elevated to the adult level at sentencing.

Federalprograms for youth offenders are available in Saskatchewan and British Columbia.In either case, court was told the boy's family would have to move to the jurisdiction to becomeeligiblefor programming.

Asked if he had anything to say, the boy stood in his dark suit jacket and read a written apology.

"I feel horrible for what I did toBrandy," he said. "I'm trying hard to change my life."

Yukon Judge PeterChisholmhas set sentencing for June16.