Woman had not sought help before being shot dead by husband: Agency

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A woman who was shot on a Woodstock street by her husband before he turned the gun on himself didn’t contact the city’s domestic abuse services before the shooting, an official says.

“We had no contact with her,” said Diane Harris, executive director of Domestic Abuse Services Oxford and Ingamo Homes, a transitional housing agency for women and children fleeing domestic abuse. “We know that women who may be at risk for femicide, often they don’t normally reach out to shelters.

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“For one they may not know about the services. I know that isolation and living in a rural community are huge factors for why people don’t reach out.”

The woman was shot on Champlain Avenue in Woodstock at about 7:30 p.m. on July 4, Woodstock police said.

Officers responding to several reports of gunshots found the injured woman with a gunshot wound in a driveway, police said. A man’s body was found down the street.

The woman was taken to hospital, police said.

There was a firearm on the ground next to the man, who appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound, deputy chief Nick Novacich said on July 5.

Novacich confirmed the woman was shot by her husband. Police have not released the names of the man and woman.

The investigation is not being treated as a homicide but as as a case of intimate partner violence, Novacich said.

“It’s disturbing that this happened in a busy neighborhood when everyone was out and about,” he said. “We haven’t had something like this happen in quite some time.”

Harris said Domestic Abuse Services Oxford receives six to seven calls a day from women in crisis asking for services.

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“But we do know there are many women in the community who may be isolated or may not have transportation or not know about services provided for women that may be living in a horrible situation,” she said. “It’s hard to know why they are not calling.”

The Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses says nine femicides were reported in Ontario in the month of June.

“Since November 26, 2023, we are aware of 35 women and children who’ve been killed, with  men either charged or deemed responsible for these killings in the case of a femicide-suicide,” it said in a report released this week. Femicide is defined as the gender-based killing of women and girls.

In 89 per cent of these cases those charged are men closely known to the victim, including a current or former intimate partner, the association said.

Last month George Curtis, 44, of London was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Cheryl Sheldon, 62. She was found critically injured in her apartment at 345 Wharncliffe Rd. N. in London on June 22 and died in hospital.

Friends of Sheldon said Curtis was her boyfriend. London police included a statement on intimate partner violence when they announced the charge against Curtis.

HRivers@postmedia.com
@HeatheratLFP

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