Not too long ago, a woman, Zahra Abdille, 43, and her two children were brutally murdered in their Toronto apartment. Not long afterwards, a man had been pronounced dead after committing suicide by jumping down onto Don Valley Parkway. Coincidence? The woman and her husband were having issues beforehand, so much to the point where she had run away with her children from him only to return back shortly for God knows what reason. The person who murdered this woman and her two children later on was figured out to be the father, the man who jumped. It is so sad that someone could be so angry, so coldhearted as to murder a defenseless woman, one who in fact left her home country because of war to come to a country she thought was safer, and children!
Why did these children have to die? Why do they in any way have to pay any price for their parent’s disputes and differences, punished alongside their mother for a fate all three of them did not deserve? Was there a way to prevent this? I think so.
Zahra, after running away from her husband, had previously asked for legal help in gaining custody over her children and did not “qualify” for the government help. She could not afford fighting the case alone. I believe that if those she was asking for assistance really saw the fear in her face and heard the pain in her voice, her will to protect her children at all costs, they would have rethought their decisions to turn her away. Now that she is gone, the government will spend a lot more money to investigate what happened, money that could have prevented the death of the two boys and their mother in the first place.
I find it unbelievable when I hear of children losing their lives because of their parent’s unsolved problems. There have been several children kidnappings and stone-cold murders reported yearly yet I do not really see anything being done to stop this from happening. If there was really an effective initiative out there to help children caught in the middle of adult worries and misery, wouldn’t we be seeing commercials on TV or gargantuan billboards outside? Are we really doing enough to stop these poignant meaningless fatalities?
If Zahra could have filed for divorce and received full custody of her children, she definitely would have embraced cheerfully that one lawyer who helped her achieve this great feat. I am 100% positive her children would much rather have lived with a single mother, possibly not being able to afford what other kids at school could, rather than being dead! Yet this was not possible because of the government stating that she could afford all the legal fees by herself.
Look at Luka Magnotta, a man accused of murdering a Chinese exchange student, chopping him up, and mailing his body parts everywhere, even to the Prime Minister’s office! He has a lawyer fighting for his case saying that he has a “mental disorder” and could not tell right from wrong. Disorder, my foot! Criminals are being given bail and multiple trials and expert help for things they have done wrong while a woman, fighting to stay alive for her children, cannot even get the tiniest bit of assistance in getting rid of her psychotic and abusive husband! I bet that if he was taken to court, he too would have received an expert lawyer fighting for his freedom like all the other scum stinking up our prisons.
The death of the three is very saddening indeed and I send my condolences to all friends and family of the three. This is something you do not often hear every day BUT IS out there, lurking in the shadows, just not taken seriously enough. It has made me realize ever so more that no one is safe, especially children. The world we live in is full of scary people willing to stoop to daunting means to get their ways. Zahra had stated more than once to her friends that she was scared of her husband. Why then did the government refuse to help her, forcing her to go back to him? As a child, I wonder what the government is doing to protect me.
All of you reading this, especially my fellow watotos, if you know of ANY abusive force in your or anybody’s household that could lead to dangerous situations, tell your teachers, your family doctor, your religious leaders, your daycare staff, the authorities, crime help lines, a trusted adult, ANYBODY! Getting your story out there could prevent dreadful outcomes that could possibly end with loved ones, even your name, engraved on stone.
Angelous