"Who's safe?": Mom speaks on daughter's stranger attack in Kitsilano (VIDEO)
The mother of a woman who was viciously attacked by two strangers in Kitsilano this summer is speaking out about public safety in the city and is hopeful Vancouver’s new mayor and council might make a difference.
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Mirella Gibeau vividly remembers the night she got a call from her daughter at about 2:30 am saying she’d been mugged.
“She said, ‘I think my nose is broken, I think my jaw is broken. I don’t know what to do.’ And I said, ‘Okay, tell your dad where you are and I’ll take you to the hospital,'” Gibeau said.
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The 30-year-old had been walking near 10th and Alma when two men wearing scarves over their faces approached her.
One man went for her sweater and purse, while the other grabbed her and punched her in the face seven times. The attack left Gibeau’s daughter with a broken nose, damaged jaw, and fractured cheekbone — which narrowly missed cutting off her eyesight.
The attack left Gibeau’s daughter with a broken nose and cheekbone. (Submitted)
“When I found out this was at the edge of Point Grey, I was really shocked,” Gibeau said.
Her daughter’s nose has now healed, but her jaw is still painful. What’s more, the whole family is now uneasy walking in public — sensitive to a laugh from a stranger or a group of men walking beside them.
“The impact of that trauma affects the person for probably years. It affects their family, their friends, anybody who’s heard it,” she said. “If it could happen to you, in a really nice neighbourhood, who’s safe?”
Near where the attack occurred (Google Street View)
Vancouver police said in 2021 that more than four people are randomly attacked per day in the city. Stranger attacks are a disturbing trend that’s become more prevalent since the COVID-19 pandemic, and some of them are fatal.
“This isn’t Gotham City. But I’m beginning to feel we’re locking ourselves in now. There are all these rules like don’t walk alone, and don’t walk at this time… the problem is that people think there are no consequences to their actions,” Gibeau said.
She’s cautiously optimistic now that Vancouver has chosen Ken Sim as its new mayor-elect, and all of his ABC Party candidates who ran on a platform focusing on public safety. Sim has promised to add 100 more officers to the Vancouver Police Department.
“We need a leader who is going to look at the problem and say ‘Yes, it exists. It’s real’. I don’t know if he’s got all the answers, but my God it feels good not to be gaslit.”
She wants to see more police presence downtown — although she acknowledges that’s controversial for some people.
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Vancouver police increased patrols in Kitsilano in the days after Gibeau’s daughter’s assault. Const. Tania Visintin with the VPD told Daily Hive the force doesn’t believe there’s a risk to public safety currently, although officers still regularly patrol the area.
No arrests have been made in connection with the assault, and the file remains under investigation, Visintin said.
With files from Daily Hive’s Arash Randjbar and Amir Ali
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