Kelowna mother’s death at hands of ex-husband shows need for judicial changes: family – Okanagan

Bailey McCourt was only 32 years old and a mother to two young children when her life was brutally cut short, allegedly at the hands of her former husband.

“This is very horrific  and a senseless act,” McCourt’s uncle, Morey Maslak told Global News. ” It’s is all very raw. We are trying to make sense of this.”

Kelowna RCMP were called to a parking lot at the corner of Spall Road and Enterprise Way at 12:45 p.m. Friday in response to what they called a hit-and-run and assault.

It was quickly determined that two women were viciously attacked.  Police said a weapon was used but would not specify what type.

Both women were rushed to hospital, where McCourt died.

Police arrested a suspect off of Glenmore Road not long after the assault and charged James Plover, McCourt’s estranged husband, with second-degree murder after McCourt succumbed to her injuries.

McCourt’s family is now left not only feeling immense sadness and pain, but anger on top of it as the accused had a history of domestic violence.

“We want to understand how we ended up in this position,” said Maslak.  “How many times is this story going to be played before we can affect some change.  There’s something wrong in this society that we are having to have these discussions over and over again.”

According to court documents, Plover was charged with assault by choking and uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm in June, 2024.

The case was classified as a ‘K file’, which indicates intimate partner violence.

In August, 2024, McCourt posted on her social media, “To anyone receiving messages from James about me and my family please screenshot these messages and send to me.  He is clearly unstable and this is not okay. I am scared for my family’s safety and need your help by getting these messages to my lawyer and crown counsel.”

“That’s what’s really frustrating is that the system is very aware, the criminal legal system, the family law system are aware that of the warning signs of potential lethal violence,” said Angela Marie MacDougall, executive director of the Battered Women’s Support Services.  “And this case was screaming of that, like just screaming, ‘Lethal violence is imminent.’”

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On Friday, just hours before the deadly attack, a judge convicted Plover of three counts of uttering threats and one count of assault by strangling.

Plover’s sentencing hearing was scheduled for September of this year.

Calling the incident horrific, B.C.’s premier said the tragedy highlights the urgent need for judicial changes.

“We’ve been pressing the federal government aggressively to improve our bail system, to make sure that violent offenders are kept behind bars,” David Eby said on Monday.

“Tragic timely reminder of the importance of that work and we hope the federal government works very quickly to get that in place.”

A GoFundMe has now been launched to raise funds for the heartbroken family mourning a woman described as a bright light.

“Funny, fun-loving, easygoing, she was a devoted mother,” Maslak said. “She loved her kids more than anything.”

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