Peel police saw domestic violence calls increase 74% in 5 years. A new unit aims to tackle the problem
CBC
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of violence.
Geri Dornford remembers all too vividly the day she learned her friend Brittney Newman had been killed. She'd seen a news report about a homicide in the Mississauga, Ont., neighbourhood where she was staying.
"I just got a chill," said Dornford, who had seen her friend just a few months earlier.
"I said ... 'Oh my God, I hope that's not Brittney."
Later that day when she returned home, Dornford's phone rang, and her worst fear was confirmed.
"I just about almost collapsed."
Newman, 25, was stabbed to death in her home in February 2020 with her two young children present. Her former partner was charged with second degree murder in connection to her killing.
Dornford and Newman's grandmother told CBC News Newman's relationship was abusive and that Newman tried to escape multiple times but struggled to get into shelters and become financially independent.
In Peel Region west of Toronto, a new police unit that works in collaboration with community organizations is hoping to make it easier for victims of domestic violence to get help by connecting them to a centre where all the resources — such as information on housing, finances and child care — are under one roof.
While advocates welcome the initiative, they say more could be done to prevent intimate-partner killings.
A 16-month CBC News investigation analyzed nearly 400 cases of intimate partner homicide between 2015 and 2020 across the country and found more than one in three people accused of intimate-partner homicide demonstrated at least one warning sign prior to the killing.
In the case of Newman, Dornford said the warning signs were there. She described the relationship as abusive and controlling to the point where, at times, Newman wasn't able to leave the house.
Dornford says her friend tried to leave, but it took her four or five attempts before she could get space at a shelter and leave for good.
"That's why ... you will find a lot of women after they've left, they may not want to, but they end up returning. Because, again, not enough resources, finances, you know," said Dornford.
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