“After he was arrested by the police for domestic violence, he kept saying he was going to find her to kill her,” said Daniela Gangangte. “She had gotten away from him. She managed to find a new place to live with relatives. I don’t understand how she was able to find out where she had taken refuge.” Police sources told Radio-Canada that the woman was attacked while loading her children into a car to take them to daycare. The children are two months, one year and four years old. The stabbing happened in a parking lot outside a residential building on rue des Oblats, near rue Wanklyn, in the LaSalle area. Police were called to the scene at approximately 08:45 The woman was found with at least one stab wound to her upper body and was taken to hospital in critical condition. She died of her injuries late Thursday afternoon, making her the 22nd homicide victim on the island of Montreal this year. A 50-year-old man, who allegedly fled the scene, was arrested later that evening. Police initially declined to name him, but said he was known to police and the victim. Hosea Amorus Puhya has since been charged in a Montreal court with first degree murder. The woman was found with at least one stab wound to her upper body and was taken to hospital in critical condition. She died from her injuries late Thursday afternoon. (Sébastien Lauzon/Radio-Canada) Gangangte said the 29-year-old woman did everything she was advised to do to escape her abuser. CBC News is not naming the victim to protect the children’s identities. “It was her husband who supported her to come and live in Canada. They are both from Cameroon. Once he arrived, he started being violent. It was someone who beat her all the time,” Gangangte said. The victim complained to police on more than one occasion, left the home and contacted a social worker at her local health services centre, known as CLSC, according to Radio-Canada. This is not Puhya’s first arrest. He has three cases of violence and armed assault on file in the Montreal court. For example, he was charged with domestic violence threats on September 12, 2021. For failing to comply with the terms of his release, he served a prison sentence until last June, Radio-Canada reports. The 29-year-old was the eighth woman in Quebec to be murdered in 2022 — the same year Quebec launched a new monitoring system for abusive spouses. The tracking system involves attaching a bracelet to the offender. The bracelet alerts the victim if the perpetrator is within a kilometer radius of their location. In December, Quebec announced the launch of the tracking devices as the latest in a series of government initiatives to combat domestic violence. By the end of fall, Quebec aims to have 500 devices available to courts to impose on people who commit domestic violence.
