The sister of a woman who was stabbed to death by her “on-and-off again” boyfriend inside her Little Italy home three years ago told a Toronto courtroom Wednesday that the system failed the 30-year-old mother by not doing enough to protect her.
In her victim impact statement, Miranda Doff told Superior Court Justice Michael Brown that the family didn’t know about a prior assault that her younger sister Brittany had reported to police.
“The seriousness of his actions were minimized to sessions of anger management,” said Doff.
“Kadeem Nedrick is on trial today, but a large part of mine and my families’ trauma and mental torture is knowing how catastrophically this system failed my sister and her son.”
The details of the prior assault were part of an agreed statement of facts read out in court two weeks ago when Nedrick pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
Brittany Doff had reported an alleged assault at the hands of her boyfriend Nedrick to police less than a year before she was murdered in January 2022.
On Feb. 26, 2021, Nedrick was charged with assault, assault by choking and threatening death. In her 911 call, Doff told police Nedrick had assaulted her in the past and admitted she feared for her safety “a bit” moving forward.
According to the facts, after grabbing Doff by the neck with both hands, she told him she was going to report him to police. He threatened to throw her off the balcony of their high-rise apartment.
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On Oct. 6, 2021, Nedrick was accepted into “Partner Assault Response” (PAR). It was anticipated that should the PAR program be successfully completed, all charges would be with withdrawn and a peace bond entered. At the time of Doff’s death, Nedrick had three remaining sessions to complete.
In the days and hours before the murder, Doff confided in her mother and a few friends that she feared for her safety and wanted Nedrick to leave her apartment, but he refused to do so.
On Jan. 3, 2022 just before 7:30 p.m., police were called to the Grace Street apartment where Doff lived with the four-year-old son she shared with Nedrick.
Doff had returned home with a friend named Mariama Bah to get a few belongings, less than 24 hours after Doff had fled the home in the middle of the night because Nedrick was being verbally abusive and scaring her.
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According to the facts, Bah heard a terrifying scream followed by silence before Nedrick came running upstairs and grabbed several knives.
After calling 911, the friend ran downstairs to find Doff lying on her back. She was blue. She was lying in a pool of blood with stab wounds on her chest. Her son was standing over his mother’s body staring at her. He was moaning and crying.
When officers arrived, Bah pointed them to the basement.
Police arrested Nedrick, Doff’s boyfriend of about eight years. A number of officers went downstairs and found Doff in the bedroom, lying on her back. There was a large amount of blood around her body. A large kitchen knife blade was found near her body. The red and black handle was broken off.
Police attempted to resuscitate Doff, who had no vital signs.
Miranda Doff told court what the couple’s son witnessed and lived through, “No one should ever know that kind of pain and horror.”
“Since Brittany’s death, my mother and I have been responsible for my nephew’s care and we have had to navigate an immensely traumatizing relationship with the Children’s Aid Society (CAS), and the broken Autism system in Ontario,” said Doff.
The victim’s sister said CAS workers repeatedly discussed Nedrick’s right to access, which caused added trauma.
Doff said the boy is now living in a supportive care home despite fighting to keep custody because in order for the CAS to help them obtain a bed, the family had to relinquish custody.
Doff said she has also been consumed by the guilt of not recognizing the danger her sister was in.
“How didn’t I know? How was I so stupid not to know? Even as a professional in the world of gender-based violence. I didn’t see the signs until after he killed her. And hindsight is such a thing to live with. Why didn’t she tell me? How didn’t I know?” she said.
Greg Doff, Brittany’s dad said his daughter’s death has shattered the family.
“An unspeakable act of brutal violence by a trusted loved one. I am consumed with looking in the rearview mirror and wondering what I, or anyone else could have done to prevent this tragedy,” said Greg.
Bah, the friend who witnessed the aftermath of the attack and called 9-1-1, told court in her victim impact statement that she will probably be in therapy for the rest of her life.
“There is no cure for this pain and trauma, but even therapy cannot make this pain permanently go away,” wrote Bah.
Leon Holness introduced the couple ten years earlier and called police after the murder. He reported that Nedrick had told him on New Year’s Eve, just three days prior to the murder, that he was thinking about killing her.
“It’s hard to explain what it feels like to carry that kind of weight. The guilt of what-ifs. The constant echoes of someone I vouched for – someone I believed in. And that life was lost because of you … I can never make sense of that,” Holness wrote.
Second Degree Murder is a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for between ten and twenty-five years. Crown and defence will make sentencing submissions on Thursday.
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