Friends and family of a Nova Scotia woman who was killed this week say her death was preventable, and are calling for accountability in the judicial system that failed her.
Hollie Marie Boland of Dartmouth, N.S., died from her injuries on Monday in the Halifax suburb of Cole Harbour after she was hit by a car, police say.
The man accused of killing her is her former partner, court records show, and was out on bail while facing previous charges for allegedly assaulting her.
“We feel at this moment the system failed Hollie, and if they hadn’t, she would still be here with all of us and her babies,” a statement from the Boland family read.
On social media, her aunt Madeline Rhodenizer called Boland a beautiful, soft-hearted, funny, hard-working, mom of three children who had gone back to school to “make a life for her and her kids.”
“The children now have no Mom,” she wrote. “But it could have been prevented. Someone needs to be held accountable for this. So many mistakes made by the system that was supposed to protect her.”
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Accused was facing previous charges
Aaron Daniel Crawley, 33, has been charged with first-degree murder in the death and is scheduled back in court Nov. 29.
The hit-and-run Monday prompted an emergency alert at the time, after Crawley allegedly fled the scene.
According to a police news release, a “Good Samaritan” tried to help Boland, who was being held against her will by a man on Shrewsbury Road, in Cole Harbour. Investigators say that when the Good Samaritan intervened, she and Boland were knocked to the ground by the suspect.
Police allege the driver used his car to strike the woman he had been detaining and fled the scene.
Boland died of her injuries in hospital, while the woman who had intervened suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
Court documents show Crawley was facing previous charges for allegedly assaulting Boland, including one incident involving a car.
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Provincial court Judge Brad Sarson nonetheless permitted Crawley’s release on conditions he stay away from Boland and four other people, not drive and remain at home except when going to his job or travelling for appointments.
Brian Cox, the president of the Nova Scotia Crown Attorneys’ Association, says the prosecution had opposed Crawley’s release.
The public prosecution service has said Crawley was charged with dangerous operation of a car and assault with a weapon against Boland on May 24, and had been released on an undertaking to appear in court at a future date.
Despite being ordered not to have further contact, Crawley was charged with assaulting and choking Boland on June 8, as well as with breaching his release conditions.
“Recent amendments to the bail system were meant to modernize and streamline the system while also protecting the safety and rights of victims of intimate partner violence,” Cox told Global News.
“But when we have intimate partners who are killed while offenders are out on release that says to me that the bail system is failing and that the justice system is failing.”
Linda MacDonald, the co-founder of Persons Against Non-state Torture, goes further. The activist wants Boland’s death to be recognized not as a case of intimate partner violence, but as femicide.
“When you see women that are killed in femicide it’s a war — one house, one street at a time,” said MacDonald.
“It’s a very serious crime. It’s still minimized. It’s not a private matter.”
Boland’s friends and family echo that sentiment and say there needs to be accountability.
“My heart is broken,” her mother, Carol Boland, wrote on social media. “My beautiful daughter was murdered and left everyone who loved her.”
— with files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ Ella MacDonald
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