‘More must be done to protect victims of IPV’
Canada’s Attorney General responds to N.L. justice minister’s plea after death of St. John’s mom
Intimate partner violence is an ongoing epidemic, provincial Justice and Public Safety Minister John Hogan wrote to his federal counterpart in March.
It’s a plague on the country with too frequent catastrophic events.
“In order to help protect those who have been victimized from further harm, it is time to consider strengthening the judicial interim release provisions of the Criminal Code that deal with intimate partner and domestic violence,” Hogan wrote.
He urged Attorney General of Canada Arif Virani to amend the law to make it harder for those accused of such violence to get bail.
MOM KILLED
Hogan sent the letter about a week after a St. John’s mom of five was found killed in an abandoned home in Logy Bay-middle Cove-outer Cove.
Thirty-six-year-old Ibrahim Alahmad, also of St. John’s, was charged with her murder and kidnapping.
Five weeks before he allegedly killed the woman, Al
Ahmad was released on bail with 12 charges of violence against her and others, including multiple counts of assault with a weapon, causing bodily harm by choking or strangulation, and others.
The court had also granted him bail in December on charges of assault with a weapon and uttering threats against the same woman.
SWITCHING THE ONUS
Had Hogan’s proposed measures been in place at the time of Al Ahmad’s January bail hearing, the onus would have been on him to prove he deserved to be released, instead of on the Crown to prove he shouldn't be.