10 years after her daughter's murder, this woman is fighting for legislative change to protect others
Debbie Hibbs's daughter was 16 when she met the 24-year-old man who later killed her
Ten years after the murder of a young woman in Conception Bay South, her mother is still fighting for legislative changes that she hopes will protect others in ways her daughter wasn't.
Debbie Hibbs stood inside Confederation Building for the 10th time on Thursday to watch the raising of a purple flag to mark 16 days of activism against gender-based violence.
Hibbs's daughter, Juliane Hibbs, was murdered at a health clinic in Conception Bay South in October 2013 along with her fiancé, Vince Dillion. Her ex-boyfriend, Brian Dawe, shot and killed both before driving to a nearby cemetery, where he killed himself.
Hibbs said her daughter's life spiralled out of control when she turned 16 and met Dawe, who was 24. She said the man dominated and isolated her daughter, and the law allowed it.
"I knew what was happening wasn't right and still we couldn't get near our daughter, and he basically just took her away and we were allowed no contact, her friends were allowed no contact, the guidance counselor at school had been told by him that she wasn't to have any contact with her parents," Hibbs told CBC News in a recent interview.
"We tried to implore upon the RNC that there was a real concern here. He controlled everything. We were always told she was in the grey area of the law but nobody could ever really explain what that meant … only there was nothing they could do."
At the time of her death, Juliane Hibbs was 35. She had been in a relationship with Dawe for 15 years. They had broken up nearly four years prior to the shooting.
Hibbs is calling for a legislative change that will give parents and police more power to intervene in a relationship involving a family member under 19 years old.
She believes more could have been done to prevent her teenage daughter from getting into an abusive relationship with an adult.
"It was unbelievable what we went through. I would never want another parent to experience what we have. And it has been hard. It has been hard on our family," she said.
Other parents, survivors and elected officials attended the ceremony Thursday, but two people missing were Premier Andrew Furey, who was in central Newfoundland, and Justice Minister John Hogan.
Hibbs took notice.
"I was disappointed that the premier wasn't here but I understand he was away. I was disappointed that Minister Hogan, the justice minister, wasn't here," she said. "These are important events. Why don't we have these people here?"
Hibbs said she intends to meet with Hogan soon.
In a statement, Hogan's office noted he was in a meeting about educational programs at Her Majesty's Penitentiary and had sent his regrets in advance to the organizers of the purple ribbon campaign. Hogan's office said he welcomes that opportunity.
"Minister Hogan welcomes the opportunity to meet with Debbie Hibbs to discuss violence prevention, including the recent launch of Clare's Law which enables people at risk of intimate partner violence to know if their partners have a history of violence of abuse," reads the statement, from department spokesperson Jeremy Reynolds.
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With files from Mark Quinn and Darrell Roberts
