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‘It's horrific': Family of murdered B.C. mom says courts didn't protect her from estranged husband
‘It's horrific': Family of murdered B.C. mom says courts didn't protect her from estranged husband

CTV News

time08-07-2025

  • CTV News

‘It's horrific': Family of murdered B.C. mom says courts didn't protect her from estranged husband

A family is reeling after the brutal killing of a mother of two in Kelowna, questioning whether the system failed to protect her from the deadly attack. Bailey McCourt was a proud mother to two daughters, ages three and nine. 'Those girls were the most important thing in her life,' said her uncle Morey Maslak. McCourt's family said after she broke up with her youngest daughter's father, James Plover, she told relatives she feared for her life, and that the courts weren't protecting her. 'She was frustrated, scared and felt unsupported,' said Maslak. Last Friday, a Kelowna judge convicted Plover of four counts of assault by choking and uttering threats in a domestic violence case, but he wasn't ordered held in custody. He was allowed to walk out of court under conditions that were set when the charges were first laid, with a sentencing hearing scheduled for September. That same afternoon, Plover allegedly attacked McCourt and her colleague with a hammer, killing his estranged wife. McCourt was 32. After a brief police pursuit, Plover was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. 'If that doesn't constitute first-degree murder, then I don't know what does,' said Maslak. 'We are dealing with many, many emotions – and one of them is anger, and we have a lot of questions about how many more times this story is going to air before we're able to affect change.' 'Something's wrong in our society when we have conversations like this.' Maslak questions why Plover was able to walk free after his convictions in the domestic violence case. 'The anger comes from not understanding how we ended up here,' he said. Angela MacDougall with Battered Women's Support Services says it's a particularly shocking case of alleged intimate partner violence. 'This case, because of what we know around lethality and the potential for femicide, was screaming red flags for years. And it's jarring to see the system fail so spectacularly,' she said. 'And now we have a woman dead, and children without their mother.' Premier David Eby was asked about the very public murder at an unrelated news conference on Monday afternoon. 'This is horrific to imagine that this happened in the middle of the afternoon in Kelowna, an example of the kind of violence against women we are seeing,' said Eby. The premier added his government is working to implement the recommendations from a recent report on how to help victims of domestic violence. MacDougall says it can't happen soon enough. 'Kim Stanton's report is a blueprint for action that can be taken. And I'm telling you right now that in this case, the sun cannot set without us having concrete steps towards addressing the harms within the system that allow this,' said MacDougall. 'I'm not sure what sort of reform it's going to take,' said Maslak. 'At the end of the day, I also don't want to take away accountability of this individual who committed this.' The McCourt family has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for the ongoing care of the two little girls who lost their mother. 'Everyone that's made a donation, it's very, very appreciated,' Maslak said. 'Our family obviously needs some stability and to surround those little girls with love. And there's lots of that around them. You know, they have an extremely difficult path ahead of them.' The family is also very appreciative of the first responders and bystanders who helped McCourt and the other victim of Friday's attack. 'We want to say thank you to all the members of the community that came forward as witnesses and more importantly, supported the apprehension of this individual after the fact by communicating with the RCMP, following the individual, which ultimately led to his capture. That means a lot to our family,' said Maslak. The McCourts are left to mourn a young mother who was trying to turn a page in her life, which was tragically cut short by violence. 'She's a beautiful daughter, granddaughter, sister, cousin, friend,' said Maslak. 'That's all we'll hold onto.'

Family, support groups seek better protection for domestic violence victims after B.C. woman killed
Family, support groups seek better protection for domestic violence victims after B.C. woman killed

CBC

time08-07-2025

  • CBC

Family, support groups seek better protection for domestic violence victims after B.C. woman killed

Social Sharing The family of a woman killed in Kelowna, B.C., on Friday is calling for more to be done to address domestic violence in the province. Bailey Plover was killed in what Kelowna RCMP called a "highly visible and tragic event" on Friday at a parking lot on Enterprise Way, in an attack that also saw another woman hospitalized. Kelowna RCMP say James Edward Plover was arrested after a brief pursuit by officers who responded to reports of a "motor vehicle incident" and an alleged assault with a weapon involving two female victims known to the suspect. Bailey Plover succumbed to her injuries after the attack, and her uncle, Morey Maslak, said there was a pattern of domestic violence between Bailey and James. "This is not an uncommon story, [it's] played out countless times, you know?" he told CBC News. "There's, you know, clearly some shortcomings in the judicial system that we need to try to address as a community." Online court records show Plover was charged with uttering threats and assault by choking last year, but the charges were stayed, in a case that was identified as concerning intimate partner violence. He and the victim were involved in family law litigation, and also faced foreclosure proceedings launched by two separate banks. Maslak said he had known Bailey since she was a young girl, and described her as a loving and devoted mother and a funny and charismatic young lady. She has two children. "The kids are surrounded by loved ones, and our focus right now is to, you know, provide some stability and have them around family," he said. Mounties said on Saturday that the second victim in the attack is still in hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Kelowna RCMP say a charge of second-degree murder in relation to the attack was approved by the B.C. Prosecution Service on Saturday. James Plover is due in court on July 10. Advocate calls for concrete action The killing of Plover comes a little under two weeks after an independent report commissioned by the province found gender-based violence has been "normalized" in B.C. Lawyer Kim Stanton's report found that around 48 per cent of women in B.C. over the age of 15 had experienced intimate partner violence. According to the report, 94 per cent of sexual assaults and 80 per cent of intimate partner violence are not reported to police. "This isn't a series of isolated tragedies. Definitely not," said Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of Battered Women's Support Services, on Monday. "Rather, this is a systemic failure and it is a public safety crisis." WATCH | Gender-based violence declared an epidemic: B.C.'s declaration of gender-based violence as an epidemic welcomed 6 months ago Duration 2:27 B.C. Premier David Eby's mandate letter to the province's finance minister tasks her with working to address a "national epidemic" of gender-based violence. Janella Hamilton spoke to support workers who have pushed for the move, who say violence against women is a public safety crisis. MacDougall noted that B.C. Premier David Eby had declared gender-based violence an epidemic in January, but said the province had not acted decisively in response to that declaration. She added that the legal system was effectively "decriminalizing this kind of violence" by not charging perpetrators with crimes. "This case, the Kelowna case, is really concerning for a bunch of reasons — not only because of how highly visible it was and that there's a woman dead, but the accused allegedly has been charged with serious violence, including choking," MacDougall said. "Those charges were stayed. And we know, from a risk assessment point of view, that that kind of violence is a precursor to femicide. This is well established." At an unrelated news conference on Monday, Eby said that his government had received the Stanton report and would work with the author on the report's various recommendations. "We've been pressing the federal government aggressively to improve our bail system, to make sure that violent offenders are kept behind bars ... to ensure that intimate partner violence, violence against women in relationships specifically, was named as an area for bail reform," he said. "[This is a] tragic, timely reminder of the importance of that work, and we hope the federal government works very quickly to get that in place."

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