“In front of her own child": Man charged with Canadian woman’s murder in Australia
Police in Australia say a four-year-old boy had to watch as his mother was killed in an Australian apartment earlier this year.
Tatiana Dokhotaru, a 34-year-old Canadian woman from Surrey, BC, was found dead on May 27 in a Sydney suburb. Her body was found following an emergency call made hours earlier about a domestic dispute.
This week, police announced a 28-year-old man has been charged with her murder.
“These are incredibly tragic circumstances,” homicide squad Commander Danny Doherty with New South Wales Police said during a news conference. “It doesn’t get much worse. A woman being killed in her own unit, especially in front of her own child.”
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Doherty added the child was left behind in the unit along with the mother’s body. He was found the next day along with Dokhotaru.
Police confirmed the killing was related to domestic violence. He added officers travelled to Canada to speak with Dokhotaru’s family over the course of the investigation.
The incident began with Tatiana making a 000 call (Australia’s equivalent to 911) before the phone was thrown out of the unit, police say. Sometime later, she was killed.
Police believe physical assault caused her death.
Dokhotaru’s friend Amber Heleta told Daily Hive she grew up on Quadra Island and moved to Surrey as a teen. She was fearless and enjoyed travelling, but Heleta said once she had her son he became her world.
“That’s all she cared about, raising him right,” Heleta said.
But Heleta also said the alleged abuse Dohotaru endured was so bad that her son “couldn’t even speak until after three years old.”
Family and friends have said Dokhotaru’s former partner’s name was Danny Zayat. Police have not confirmed the name of the individual charged.
After Dokhotaru’s murder made world news, a memorial in her honour was set up in Surrey’s Holland Park condemning domestic violence.