Femicide 2011
Women murdered in Ontario from December 2010 to October 2011
Women murdered where an intimate partner was charged or committed suicide
Petty Mahabir-Chaitram, 43, Brampton. Mother of three. Petty was stabbed to death by her estranged husband, Mathura Chaitram, 46, who then committed suicide. Her body was found on the patio of the home where she had recently rented a basement apartment, the home owner said, “to get away from her husband.” She had moved with him to Canada a year before from Trinadad, where she had married Chaitram after her first husband and the father of her children had died. Her cousin and niece from Trinadad said that he had been abusive for a long time and very jealous, and that she left him when he started to “rough up the kids and be harsh with them.” Petty was described as very nice, quiet and kind. (April 2011)
Whitney Van Der Wouden, 15, Sudbury. Whitney, or ‘Dolly’ as she was called, disappeared in April of 2009 after calling her mother to ask if she could stay with a friend overnight. She was told to come home, but never heard from again. In June, police investigating her disappearance found her burned and crushed remains in a campsite in the woods where two men, one a 17-year-old youth that she was seeing and “sweet on” and an older 28-year-old man had been living. She had been stabbed before her body was burned, dismembered and buried under the fire pit. The two men left town after the murder but were later arrested in Quebec after they turned themselves in. The older man told a friend of the murder saying that they murdered Dolly after she refused sexual advances. Dolly’s family described her as “rebellious,” but with a big heart. The two men had been at the family home for lunch on the day of Dolly’s disappearance. The youth (who cannot be named until his appeals are heard) and the older man, Kristopher Lavallee, 28, were charged with first-degree murder and indignity to human remains. The youth was tried and convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced as an adult in 2011. Lavallee will be tried in 2012. (April 2009)
Patricia Pacheco-Hernandez, 41, London. Mother of three. Patricia was found dead by police after a frantic 911 call from a neighbor. The cause of death was not released. Patricia and her husband had fled Colombia as refugees in 2002 after threats were made against the family by militants. She was a lawyer in her homeland and, although she liked Canada, was lonely for her family and country and missed her work there. In Canada, she worked as a cleaner and sold jewelry that she brought from visits back home. Reportedly she and her husband had been arguing in the weeks before her death; that she had wanted a divorce and that she wanted to return to Colombia. Patricia was described as a “remarkable mom” and an avid gardener who had recently become anxious. Friends said her husband was a “really nice guy” and a hard worker. Patricia’s family wanted to bring her body back to Columbia to be buried but could not afford the expense, so she was buried in Canada. Her husband, Daniel Jimenez-Acosta, 43, was charged with second-degree murder. (May 2011)
Rejina Kendy, 26, Kitchener. Rejina was found by police in her home dead of blunt force injuries. She was six months pregnant at the time and had been in Canada for only about a year, after being sponsored by her husband. Both had fled to Egypt to escape war in the Sudan and had married in 2009 in Cairo. She was described as an easygoing person who could get along with everyone and a very religious woman who believed that everything would work out with the help of God. Her husband was on bail at the time of the murder for a serious assault against Rejina only months after she arrived in Canada. Less than three weeks before the murder he was again charged with breaching his order to stay away from her when a child welfare worker reported to police that the couple was living together. On the breach charge, the judge decided to release him with the same orders to stay away and deemed the first assault “one single incident” with no indication of prior trouble. He was released on a $3,000 bond with no deposit, with a long-time friend as his surety. Four days before he was to appear in court on the assault charge, Rejina was found dead. Her husband, Ambrose Kose, 28, was charged with first-degree murder and two counts of violating bail terms. (August 2011)
Antoinette Lavoie, 69. Murillo. Mother of two adult children. Antoinette’s body was found in her home, along with the body of her husband, who had called 911. Murillo is near Thunder Bay. A post-mortem examination determined that she had died of a single gunshot wound. Her husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot. Police had charged Joseph Lavoie in October with assault causing bodily harm arising from a ‘domestic’ dispute in August. Police were trying to track the gun, which was unregistered, and where it might have come from. Lavoie had previously had five guns seized after charges were laid in the previous assault. Serious questions about police and court actions regarding the case were raised by local women’s advocates, but their concerns receive only slight response and a report of the systemic review in the murder-suicide was not publicly released. (December 2010)
Tunde Nemet, 46. Ottawa. Mother of three. Tunde was stabbed multiple times in her home in front of her 15-year-old son, who ran to neighbours telling them, “my dad’s stabbing my mom” over and over again. The family, which had settled in Sudbury after fleeing war in Serbia for peace in Canada, had been living in Ottawa for a couple of years. Less than two months before the murder, the woman’s husband had moved out of the house and was under orders not to communicate with the family after a charge of assault on one of his daughters was laid against him. According to a friend, he had been trying to make amends and get his family back. Said the friend: “After being 25 years with his wife and having those children, you know it’s not easy…He did everything he could, and his wife just didn’t want to take him (back).” Mihalj Nemet, 56, was charged with first-degree murder. (March 2011)
44%
of female victims of spousal abuse indicated that they suffered injury because of the violence, with 13% seeking medical attention.
