Somber music filled a suburban Ottawa street as people stood in silence to remember 50-year-old Anne-Marie Ready and 15-year-old Jasmine Ready. “They were such kind souls,” said Tyler Glenn, who trained with them at the Douvris Martial Arts studio, where they had just received their black belts a fortnight ago after years of training. Glenn said he was in “complete denial and complete shock” after hearing of the couple’s deaths at the hands of 21-year-old Joshua Graves, the son of the family’s next-door neighbour. According to the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario police, Ottawa police received a 911 call around 10:30 p.m. on June 27. Officers arrived on the scene to find Graves stabbing Anne-Marie Reddy’s 19-year-old daughter, Kathryn, in the street near the home. When he allegedly refused to drop his knife, police shot and killed him – also hitting Katherine. She was the only survivor of the knife attack. Graves’ family members said he suffered from mental illness and had a “romantic” interest in one of the victims. Just three days before the stabbing, Graves had been arrested and charged with sexually assaulting and stalking a 16-year-old girl. He was subsequently released from custody.
“deeply disturbed”
While people came to mourn their loss, many still had lingering questions. “I’m curious how a 21-year-old man, who a week ago was charged with sexual assault, was released with a knife,” said neighbor Scott Babbitt. Babbitt witnessed the incident and said he is “deeply disturbed” and has “vivid” memories of it. On the night of the murders, Babbitt said Graves was left unsupervised near several other girls who live on Anoka Street. Ottawa police block off a residential street on June 28, one day after the fatal stabbings. (Claudine Richard/Radio-Canada) The tragedy occurred on the same day a high-level coroner’s inquest into the murders of three women in Renfrew County released 86 recommendations aimed at eliminating violence against women. Lawyer Pamela Cross, who sat on a panel of experts at the inquest, said the coincidence was shocking and called last week’s murders – like those of Nathalie Warmerdam, Anastasia Kuzyk and Carol Culleton in 2015 – clear acts ” femicide”. It’s important to distinguish “femicide” from “homicide,” Cross said, as the former is an act of killing girls and women because of their gender. One of the recommendations made by the jury members at the inquest was to include femicide in the Criminal Code of Canada. “It’s deeply troubling, in so many ways … that someone so young has already been shaped so much by the misogynistic values that frame a culture we all live in,” he said. Jasmine Ready (left) died in the June 27 attack, while her older sister Catherine (right) survived when police shot the suspect. (Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est/Katherine Sauvé)
“Girls don’t feel safe”
Alta Vista community member and women’s advocate Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims said she organized Saturday’s vigil to allow people not only to grieve and grieve, but also to raise awareness about violence against women and mental health issues. . “Every time women perish in violence [like] This is a reminder that we still have so much work to do to prevent the circumstances that lead to violence against women and really try to find the root causes,” she said. Farhoumand-Sims said she wonders about all the things that could have been done to prevent the attack on Anne-Marie, Catherine and Jasmine Ready. Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims organized Saturday’s vigil, saying it was an opportunity to let people express their grief while drawing attention to violence against women. (Avanthika Anand/CBC) Douvris Martial Arts studio is accepting donations to help Catherine Ready as she remains in hospital, six days after the attack. The SIU, which investigates – among other things – police deaths and serious injuries, said on Tuesday that he was in a serious but stable condition. Jana Marcoux, a friend of Catherine’s who was at the vigil, said the two attended classes at the University of Ottawa. She described her friend as “bright”, “full of life” and “always in a good mood”. Marcoux said she hopes and prays for her friend’s recovery, adding that realizing the Readys were targeted because of their gender makes her fear for herself and other women. “It’s scary to know that I have a friend in the hospital right now, without a mother or a sister,” she said. “Girls don’t feel safe.”
