Community vigil held to honour C.B.S. shooting victims
Family of victim hoping to raise awareness about abusive relationships
The family of a woman who was murdered by her former boyfriend in a double murder-suicide last month is speaking out against domestic violence.
A crowd of approximately 200 people huddled in the town hall parking lot in Conception Bay South, waving candles and singing with a choir at a vigil on Friday night.
Juliane Hibbs and her fiancé, Vince Dillon, were shot and killed inside a doctor's office in Villa Nova Plaza in C.B.S. in mid-October.
Brian Dawe, Hibbs' former boyfriend, killed the two before taking his own life at the Anglican Cemetery on Kenmount Road.
Hibbs' mother, Debbie, said her daughter was in an abusive relationship with Dawe for more than 15 years.
She said the family reached out to police, but they said there was nothing they could do because Juliane never filed a police report about the abuse.
"I think the law has to be changed. At 16 years old, you are a child, you are not an adult," she said.
"I think it's everybody's issue to help us with this and see what we can do to stop domestic relationship violence."
The family is still in a state of shock, said Hibbs' father, Philip.
"We're still pretty wiped. We were away when it happened, and the struggle to get home and deal with the shock over the telephone when we were informed with what happened, for me, I don't even really think it's sunk in yet," he said.
"It was an 18-year struggle that culminated in the death of our daughter, and basically we had … thought that it was over, and it wasn't over," he added.
Hibbs' parents said they're hopeful that Friday's vigil will help bring more awareness about domestic violence to light, and that it helps at least one person find a way to escape an abusive relationship.
"I hope that by doing this that we can make a difference, and we want to go forward from there," said Debbie Hibbs.
"There's a lot of people that came tonight in those situations, some people that got out, maybe some people that are still living in them. I just hope that we can make a difference and help people because this is a big, big issue today."