Grieving Penticton mother speaks out about domestic abuse

September 21 marks a somber anniversary for a Penticton mother; it’s the date her daughter was brutally murdered by an ex-boyfriend.

It’s been eight years since Maureen Chatham’s daughter, Melissa Chatham, was killed. She was just 24 years old when Kelly David Mckenzie murdered her in front of his young son in their Surrey home.

“He got home at 5:30 a.m. and beat her. The little boy tried to pull him off and he was thrown into his room and told not to come out,” Chatham said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "He got home at 5:30 a.m. and beat her. The little boy tried to pull him off and he was thrown into his room and told not to come out," Chatham said.

Chatham said her daughter, who grew up in the Lower Mainland, dated Mckenzie for about three years.

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He was physically abusive and her parents urged her to leave him. She broke up with him a few times but she kept going back. But one day, she never returned.

“The last things I said to her were ‘I love you, be safe, don’t forget you have dinner with your dad tomorrow’”,” Maureen said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The last things I said to her were 'I love you, be safe, don't forget you have dinner with your dad tomorrow'"," Maureen said.

Now Maureen is speaking to Global News in her first media interview about her daughter’s death.

“Even if I can help one person get out of an abusive situation by hearing Melissa’s story,” Chatham said.

She’s also encouraging people to join her at Penticton’s Take Back the Night Event in Gyro Park.

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Organizers say it’s a chance for those like Chatham to honour their loved ones.

“They can carry pictures of loved ones, walk in memory of someone. We will be going for a march and then we will have a moment of silence,” Amberlee Erdmann with the South Okanagan Victim Assistance Society said.

Executive director of the South Okanagan Women in Need Society (SOWINS) said in the south Okanagan, there aren’t enough safe places for victims of domestic abuse to go.

“The need has definitely increased, more demand for beds and of course now the weather is changing so it’s increasing the demand again,” Scarborough said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The need has definitely increased, more demand for beds and of course now the weather is changing so it's increasing the demand again," Scarborough said.

That’s why SOWINS, which operates one of Penticton’s two transition houses for females, is looking to expand.

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SOWINS’ transition house has been over capacity since last winter.

“We’ll be going from six bedrooms to 19. We will be wheelchair accessible and we will have second-stage housing beds as well,” Scarborough said.

It’s welcome news for Chatham, who is encouraging others who may be facing a situation similar to her daughters to walk away as soon as the first sign of abuse is noticed.

Thursday’s Take Back the Night walk in Penticton’s Gyro Park begins at 6:30 p.m. with sign making. The march is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.