Advocates and officials are calling on social media giants to remove a graphic video circulating online that appears to show the death of a woman in a Brampton park.
Peel Regional Police said officers were called to Sparrow Park in the Hummingbird Court and Cherrytree Drive area at around 6 p.m. on May 19 for reports of a stabbing.
Officers said a woman was found with “obvious signs of trauma,” and succumbed to her injuries at the scene despite life-saving efforts. The victim was later identified as 43-year-old Davinder Kaur of Brampton.
Police said Kaur’s estranged husband, 44-year-old Nav Nishan Singh, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the incident.
The graphic video of what appears to be the incident — which Global News has decided not to share — has prompted many to question why it is allowed spread on social media.
Peel Regional Police confirmed to Global News that the force is aware of the video.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said he, too, is aware of the “harrowing video.”
“It’s very disappointing that a video as heinous as that would be available for viewing. I know the police took this very seriously — they made their best efforts to have the video removed,” he said.
Brown said some larger social media companies have not removed the video.
“The last thing we want to see is the victims and the family being retraumatized,” he continued.
On Tuesday, Global News reached out to both Twitter and Facebook to determine why the video was still posted to the platforms.
In a statement sent to Global News Wednesday morning, Facebook said it removed the video and has “taken steps to prevent the video from being uploaded again.”
Twitter had not yet responded to the inquiry and the video remained on the social media site.
In a statement on Tuesday, Myrna Dawson the director of the Canadian Femicide Observatory, said it’s “surprising” the video had not been taken down.
“I do not believe in posting such images as there is no prevention potential and it merely traumatizes other women who may be experiencing violence in their lives or anyone who abhors such violence,” Dawson said. “It should be taken down as it’s equivalent to a snuff film, in my view.”
Dawson said women are “often the primary victims” of these types of films.
“It’s reprehensible that it was taken in the first place — underscores the femicidal context in this case — but equally disturbing that it has been allowed to circulate this long,” Dawson continued. “It shows what we know about male violence against women which that it is a form of entertainment for many.”
One woman, Chantal Dugdale, who stumbled upon the video on social media told Global News she couldn’t believe what she was seeing when it popped up on her feed.
“It’s a woman that’s clearly in an enormous amount of distress, and then you look at it and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, she’s actually bleeding out,” she said. “That’s when I wrote underneath (the video) — I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m seeing this.'”
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