People rally in Kelowna as B.C. man charged with murder in woman's death appears in court
Plover is accused in the death of Bailey Plover, who died after an attack in a parking lot on Enterprise Way on July 4 that put another woman in the hospital.
"I think all the trauma in my life has led me to be strong for this day," said Karen Fehr, Bailey Plover's mother, outside of the courthouse.
Fehr said she learned of the attack around 11 that night after she found a note to call Bailey's friends, stuck to the door of her house.
"She had been passed away for an hour and a half by the time I heard," said Fehr. "I wondered all night where she was."
Fehr said she had moved in with her daughter and grandchildren three days before Bailey's homicide.
"She called out to me on Mother's Day, terrified," said Fehr. "Every night she was sleeping a little bit better, but every day she would wake back up and it would be the same thing."
Plover was convicted of three counts of uttering threats and one count of assault by strangling on the same day as the attack that killed Bailey. Court documents indicate a case of intimate partner violence.
Fehr said her daughter had texted her the morning of Plover's conviction.
"I messaged back right away and said, see, there you go, you know, this is all happening because you're taking the steps necessary to stand up for yourself," said Fehr.
"She got this good news; she probably went out to celebrate on lunch hour. And that was her last lunch hour."
Now in custody, Plover is due in court again on Sept. 16 and will be sentenced on his assault conviction later that month.
The case has drawn the attention of the community and beyond to the issue of intimate partner violence. Nearly 100 people showed up at the courthouse on Thursday in support.
Libbie Philips, the owner of a dessert store in Kelowna, said she first heard of the fatal attack from a post on social media, then later learned the identity of the victim through a news article she read to her husband.
"I stopped mid-sentence when I got to the victim's name… it hit close to home," said Philips, who says she helped Bailey Plover choose desserts for her wedding day.
Philips said she knew Bailey to be a proud mom, with a bright smile, but she had been open on social media about what she was going through.
Philips is hosting a "Bailey's Day" fundraiser at her shop, Cupcasions, on July 15 to support Bailey Plover's children. The funds raised will be managed by the children's maternal grandfather.
A survivor of domestic abuse. Philips says more needs to be done to protect women against violent offenders.
"When it comes to violence, those offenders need to be put in custody, they need to be kept away because they walk away from that courthouse mad, because now they've lost," said Philips.
"And it leaves the victims a target."
"Bailey was very clear; she posted on her social media that she was afraid, and clearly she had a reason," Philips said.
A statement by Kelowna RCMP says police held an event on community safety Thursday at Angel's Way parking lot for an opportunity to address community concerns in response to the July 4 attack.
According to data from Statistics Canada, there were around 124,000 victims of intimate partner violence aged 12 years and older across the country in 2023.
Forty-four per cent of women and girls from the age of 15 who have been in a relationship have reported intimate partner violence, physical, psychological, or sexual abuse, at some point in their lives.
A Government of British Columbia website says 80 per cent of women who experience intimate partner violence don't report it to the police.
Fehr said the justice system has failed her daughter and others like her "in every way, shape or form."
"You know, when you walk into that courtroom, anything can happen," Fehr said. "I've never believed in justice, and I'm never going to believe in justice."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Problem tenants finally leave P.E.I. rental property, but landlord's issues continue
Thamara DeVries is finally beginning the process of reclaiming her dream home, after months of watching the property turn into a nightmare. The landlord rented out the fully furnished house in Wheatley River, P.E.I., back in February to tenants she initially believed to be a mother with three daughters. But shortly after they moved in, DeVries discovered it was actually two adults and 10 children, along with multiple animals — and said they were destroying her home. Her battle to evict the problem tenants stretched up until this week, when the family obeyed a July 11 order to vacate from the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, packed their belongings into a moving truck, and left. "I don't ever wish this on anyone. I don't understand why everything takes so long," DeVries told CBC News on Wednesday. "There's appeal after appeal after appeal, which is extending the time, which is extending the damages to the property." After discovering how many people were living in the residence, DeVries immediately contacted the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission (IRAC), which handles disputes between landlords and tenants on P.E.I. She argued that the tenants had given false information, that the home had an unreasonable number of occupants, and that unreasonable damage was being done. The commission initially found that there were no valid grounds for eviction. The monthly rent of $2,900 was being paid, at that point. As a series of accusations and counter-accusations from both parties dragged on, DeVries watched the condition of the home deteriorate. WATCH: P.E.I. landlord taking stock of damage after tenants with 10 children move out: 'It seems like a horror movie' Eventually the tenants allowed her to walk through the property, where she discovered knives jammed into door frames to keep people from entering, along with a foul odour throughout the house. She said the downstairs of the property had been turned into a greenhouse for growing plants and all the furniture had been tossed outside, exposed to winter conditions. She also found kittens in the bathtub, and alleged the family was breeding cats in her home. Outside, she said the tenants had turned the yard into farmland and dumped several truckloads of manure on top of where her well sits. Despite repeated requests to have it moved, she said the pile remains there. During a hearing at the end of May, DeVries presented documents showing no rent had been paid since April and photos of the damages. Ruling on the non-payment issue, IRAC eventually said the tenants had seven days to vacate, although a document viewed by CBC News noted: "We make no finding with respect to the merits of the landlords' claims respecting eviction on the basis of damage to property, for example." WATCH: 'That process has been painful': P.E.I. house owner has spent months trying to evict her tenants: But the tenants appealed that eviction notice, arguing they couldn't find housing within a week and alleging there was discrimination in the P.E.I. rental market against large families. The tenants also applied for a return of rent totalling $14,500, along with "compensation for emotional distress" in the amount of $12 million, according to IRAC documents. "The tenants say that they withheld rent because of the landlord's behaviour, [which] they characterize as harassment which breached their quiet enjoyment of the rental unit," one document says. On July 11, IRAC denied the tenants' appeal for more time and terminated the rental agreement, effective Tuesday, July 15. The commission also ordered the tenants to pay DeVries outstanding rent in the amount of $7,203.23, minus the $2,000 damage deposit that will stay with the landlord. The tenants left Tuesday evening, DeVries said, with the RCMP present to make sure the move went without incident. She's since been through the house again, and was "beyond devastated" by its state. When a CBC News team visited on Wednesday, there was a pervasive smell of cat urine. The back door had been taken completely off of its frame and left outside, most of the furniture and decor items were either gone or badly damaged, and the driveway was covered in manure. A formerly white couch with a floral pattern was a dingy brown, and there were a few cats still living under the floor. "It just seems like a nightmare. It seems like a horror movie," DeVries said. "It looks like somebody was in here purposely damaging the property. It doesn't feel like it was… a wear-and-tear type of situation." She isn't sure how much it will cost to fix up the home, but expects the pricetag to be in the thousands of dollars. On the brighter side, DeVries said she is touched by Islanders offering their support to help her paint and clean up the property. She plans to move back into the home once it's ready — and said she'll never rent it out to anyone again. She hopes her situation results in landlords having more rights in the future, and urged IRAC to speed up the eviction process in extreme cases like hers. "I understand that there are bad landlords, and I understand there are bad tenants, but what I find is that tenants do get away with a lot of damage," she said. "The process is so long that, unfortunately, it's inflicting extra damages that should be avoidable."
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
What Was Said About The Accused In Hockey Canada Sexual Assault Trial Before The Verdict
Warning: coverage of the Hockey Canada trial includes details of alleged sexual assault that may be disturbing to readers.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Members of 'theft ring' suspected of registering stolen vehicles using loopholes
The Alberta RCMP have laid charges against members of an organized vehicle theft ring that relied on registering stolen vehicles under the names of unsuspecting individuals. In a news release Wednesday, RCMP stated that this group was registering stolen vehicles with fraudulent vehicle identification numbers (VINs) by primarily exploiting loopholes in Alberta Registries' Third-Party Authorization System. It can be used by people involved in organized crime to legitimize stolen, "re-VINned" vehicles. As a result of an investigation by the RCMP Auto Theft Unit that began in December 2024, five individuals from Edmonton and two from High River, Alta., have been charged with a combined total of 99 criminal charges. RCMP Staff Sgt. Luke Halvorson said the individuals who have been charged are not directly part of a named gang, but he said RCMP believe they have connections to a criminal organization. Police said at least 30 stolen vehicles have been linked to the charged individuals, and six of these vehicles have been recovered so far. According to Hanna Beydoun, the Insurance Bureau of Canada's director of auto policy, re-VINning refers to when a person illegally alters the Vehicle Identification Number to "hide the true identity of that car, mislabelling it essentially." WATCH | EPS hopes to address vehicle thefts in Edmonton: RCMP said that more than one kilogram of cocaine, more than 200 OxyContin pills, and nearly $10,000 in cash were also seized. Since the beginning of the investigation in 2024, the RCMP Auto Theft Unit has identified and is working to locate more than 150 registered stolen vehicles that have been re-VINned. Overall, the wider investigation by the Auto Theft Unit has resulted in the recovery of approximately $1.9 million in stolen vehicles in Alberta. "We're alleging that someone would go and steal a vehicle, then someone would create a VIN for it, and then utilize one of the other people in the organization to register that vehicle through the third-party authorization system, therefore legitimizing that vehicle," said Halvorson. Halvorson said thieves will sometimes insure the stolen vehicles once they are registered, and report them stolen and collect the claim payment. "So, they essentially steal an $80,000 vehicle, insure it, say it's stolen, [then] they still have the $80,000 vehicle and the $80,000," said Halvorson. He said that criminals will also often sell the stolen vehicles that have been re-VINned. "They've sold them to unsuspecting citizens who are now driving a stolen vehicle that could be seized at any time." Halvorson said the RCMP is starting to see a shift from criminals stealing vehicles to commit other crimes or just to be used as transportation, to more criminals starting to register and re-VIN stolen vehicles. Beydoun said criminals are starting to come to Alberta to take advantage of these registry loopholes that have been closed in other parts of the country. "We're seeing criminals start moving west. In Ontario … they've tightened up their provincial registry system, [so] we're seeing them move west into Alberta." "[Ontario is] making it harder for people to register fraudulent vehicles, which is what we wanted to see," said Beydoun. "Over the past year, we did see about a 21 per cent decrease in theft claims in Ontario, whereas we're not seeing the same decrease or change in Alberta." Beydoun said the Insurance Bureau of Canada wants the Alberta government to begin prohibiting VIN override functions at provincial registries, which she says allows criminals to enter an illegitimate VIN for a vehicle. She also recommended that the Alberta government restrict third-party vehicle registrations to just dealerships. "Until those loopholes in provincial registries are closed, the auto theft crisis is only going to continue to persist and worsen," said Beydoun.
