Nearly 553 files of strangulation in a context of domestic violence in Montreal ended up on the desk of the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), which would only be the tip of the iceberg.
“When we see the risks for victims of being killed by their intimate partners once they have been strangled, these are figures that are shocking,” underlined Me Maya Ducasse-Hathi, prosecutor at the DPCP, in an interview. at LCN.
“It’s an offense where the perpetrator comes to tell the victim: I hold your life in my hands,” she said.
A pilot project was launched to better train police officers, investigators and prosecutors in these cases of strangulation, when at least 10 women per week are said to suffer such a form of violence.
“It is believed that many incidents of strangulation go unreported because it is an offense that is minimized both by victims […] and that it was ignored by the police services and prosecutors,” said Me Ducasse-Hathi.
According to the commander of the section specializing in domestic violence at the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), the pilot project would make it possible to make up for the delay accumulated in Quebec, particularly compared to the United States.
“When we understand what strangulation is and how serious it is, police intervention will change,” explained Anouk St-Onge.
“The more we talk about it, the more resources we will have for these victims, and then perhaps one day we will succeed in completely eliminating domestic violence,” she said.
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