The tragic slaying of 57-year-old Bayush Hagos Sept 1st raises a lot of questions about the delicate and potentially dangerous role of community support workers.
Hagos had worked at the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services for 19 years, supporting battered women and helping marginalized people find housing and other community services.
She was beloved in the local Ethiopian community as someone who opened her heart and her home to anyone in need.
And when Ayelech Zenebe Ejigu, who had been accused of attempting to kill her husband, needed a place to stay once released on bail, Hagos made extraordinary efforts to find her a place. When she couldn’t find anyone to take Eligu in, Hagos allowed the woman to stay at her Burnaby apartment.
A week later Hagos was dead. And now Ejigu has been charged with second-degree murder.
Hagos supervisor at the community society said nobody at work knew Hagos had allowed a client to stay with her. She speculates Hagos was so compassionate that she couldn’t turn the other woman away when she had nowhere to go.
Shashi Assanand said Hagos had been asked to interpret for Ejigu at Surrey Pre-trial several months ago, but was not supposed to be responsible for the woman now charged with killing her.
Here’s my full story:
I hope there is an inquest in this case once the charges are dealt with. Assanand says there are few services for women with complex issues, such as Ejigu, making it tough for those who are trying to help them.
An official with the solicitor-general’s ministry, which provides money to the agency, responded to my request for an interview late Friday night with this comment:
Ayelech Zenebe Ejigu, 41, made a first appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court Thursday on a charge of the second-degree murder of Bayush Hagos, a counsellor with the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services. Ejigu’s Fort St. John trial for attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon was adjourned in August and a judge there altered her bail conditions on Aug. 22, which allowed her to stay at Hagos’s Burnaby home.
On Sept. 1, police were called to Hagos’s apartment at 4134 Maywood St., near Central Park, and found the beloved community worker dead and Ejigu wounded.
Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said the case is heartbreaking, as Hagos only allowed Ejigu to stay with her temporarily because she couldn’t find any other accommodation.
“It is extremely tragic,” Pound said Friday. “This is a case where she just wanted to reach out and help this woman because she didn’t have a place to stay.”
Both women immigrated to Canada from Ethiopia and spoke the same language, but only met when Hagos was called to the Surrey Pre-trial Services Centre several months ago to interpret for Ejigu. Shashi Assanand, executive director of the agency where Hagos worked for 19 years, said everyone is devastated by the murder and at a loss to understand why Hagos took in a client, which is against agency policy.
“We never knew the woman was staying with her at all. There is a very clear guideline that we don’t even give out our cell numbers, let alone our home numbers,” Assanand said.
“We get threats because we do anti-violence work and our staff are advocates for women and children.”
She said the society wouldn’t normally work with a client charged in a violent crime, but since no one else spoke Ejigu’s language, Hagos was called in to help. Hagos also believed the woman now charged with killing her was a victim of domestic violence, Assanand said.
“The only reason she was there was because there was nobody who could interpret,” Assanand said. “In the beginning, she came to me and I said to her, ‘Other professionals — it is their case. You are never a primary case worker here. You only interpret — and that is your role.’”
She doesn’t know why other agencies didn’t follow up with Ejigu, but suggested Hagos must have ended up feeling responsible for the woman.
Assanand was away during the summer months when Hagos told co-workers that she was struggling to find housing for Ejigu. The society is reviewing the file to try to understand why Hagos made the fatal call to secretly take in Ejigu.
“I am thinking that her own conscience wouldn’t have allowed her to just leave [Ejigu] in a lurch,” Assanand said.
She said there is a general lack of support for people like Ejigu with a multitude of issues, including mental health problems and language barriers.
“If you take them to any shelter, if you take them to mental health, nobody takes the responsibility,” she said.
“The woman is from her community and Bayush is very warm-hearted and outgoing and kind and even if there is a person on the street or a stray dog, she would take them in.”
She hopes other agencies also review what happened to ensure any mistakes are not repeated.
“They were all involved ... it was their responsibility,” Assanand said. “How on earth and when on earth did it become our worker’s responsibility? I have no idea.”
Const. Jackelynn Passarell, of Fort St. John RCMP, said Ejigu was originally taken into custody on June 2, 2010, on the attempted murder allegations.
She said bail was initially granted on March 25, with “lots of conditions.”
The trial had been slated for two weeks in August, but “they needed additional time,” Passarell said.
“So at that point there was a modification made on Aug. 22 to her recognizance — a judge made a modification varying some of the conditions, such as her address.”
The continuation date of the attempted murder trial has not yet been fixed, she said.
Hagos was like a mother to the local Ethiopian community, Assanand said, and the society is doing what it can to support her many friends. A celebration of her life is being held today at 1 p.m. at the Renfrew Community Centre in east Vancouver.
Assanand said she also has brought in trauma counsellors for Hagos’s colleagues, who work as advocates for victims of domestic violence and are struggling to cope with their own loss. “We have been working through the sadness of it all and how do we deal with it,” she said. “This is my biggest nightmare.”
kbolan@vancouversun.com
Read The Real Scoop at vancouversun.com/bolan
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Burnaby+woman+have+been+murdered+house+guest/5380238/story.html#ixzz1a4FVp8uC
Hagos had worked at the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services for 19 years, supporting battered women and helping marginalized people find housing and other community services.
She was beloved in the local Ethiopian community as someone who opened her heart and her home to anyone in need.
And when Ayelech Zenebe Ejigu, who had been accused of attempting to kill her husband, needed a place to stay once released on bail, Hagos made extraordinary efforts to find her a place. When she couldn’t find anyone to take Eligu in, Hagos allowed the woman to stay at her Burnaby apartment.
A week later Hagos was dead. And now Ejigu has been charged with second-degree murder.
Hagos supervisor at the community society said nobody at work knew Hagos had allowed a client to stay with her. She speculates Hagos was so compassionate that she couldn’t turn the other woman away when she had nowhere to go.
Shashi Assanand said Hagos had been asked to interpret for Ejigu at Surrey Pre-trial several months ago, but was not supposed to be responsible for the woman now charged with killing her.
Here’s my full story:
I hope there is an inquest in this case once the charges are dealt with. Assanand says there are few services for women with complex issues, such as Ejigu, making it tough for those who are trying to help them.
An official with the solicitor-general’s ministry, which provides money to the agency, responded to my request for an interview late Friday night with this comment:
The Ministry contracts with third parties, such as non-profit agencies and local governments, to deliver victim service and violence against women programs. Staff working in these programs are employees of those agencies and those agencies are subject to Worksafe BC legislation.Fort St. John woman out on bail on charges of attempting to kill her husband has been charged with murdering a Burnaby community worker who gave her shelter.
Ministry contracts do require that agencies establish and maintain intake and operational policies that are intended to provide for the safety and well-being of employees and volunteers within those agencies.
Worker safety is an important factor when working in victim service and violence against women program areas. We are committed to engaging in dialogue with our contractors about these important issues.
Ayelech Zenebe Ejigu, 41, made a first appearance in Vancouver Provincial Court Thursday on a charge of the second-degree murder of Bayush Hagos, a counsellor with the Vancouver and Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services. Ejigu’s Fort St. John trial for attempted murder, aggravated assault and assault with a weapon was adjourned in August and a judge there altered her bail conditions on Aug. 22, which allowed her to stay at Hagos’s Burnaby home.
On Sept. 1, police were called to Hagos’s apartment at 4134 Maywood St., near Central Park, and found the beloved community worker dead and Ejigu wounded.
Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said the case is heartbreaking, as Hagos only allowed Ejigu to stay with her temporarily because she couldn’t find any other accommodation.
“It is extremely tragic,” Pound said Friday. “This is a case where she just wanted to reach out and help this woman because she didn’t have a place to stay.”
Both women immigrated to Canada from Ethiopia and spoke the same language, but only met when Hagos was called to the Surrey Pre-trial Services Centre several months ago to interpret for Ejigu. Shashi Assanand, executive director of the agency where Hagos worked for 19 years, said everyone is devastated by the murder and at a loss to understand why Hagos took in a client, which is against agency policy.
“We never knew the woman was staying with her at all. There is a very clear guideline that we don’t even give out our cell numbers, let alone our home numbers,” Assanand said.
“We get threats because we do anti-violence work and our staff are advocates for women and children.”
She said the society wouldn’t normally work with a client charged in a violent crime, but since no one else spoke Ejigu’s language, Hagos was called in to help. Hagos also believed the woman now charged with killing her was a victim of domestic violence, Assanand said.
“The only reason she was there was because there was nobody who could interpret,” Assanand said. “In the beginning, she came to me and I said to her, ‘Other professionals — it is their case. You are never a primary case worker here. You only interpret — and that is your role.’”
She doesn’t know why other agencies didn’t follow up with Ejigu, but suggested Hagos must have ended up feeling responsible for the woman.
Assanand was away during the summer months when Hagos told co-workers that she was struggling to find housing for Ejigu. The society is reviewing the file to try to understand why Hagos made the fatal call to secretly take in Ejigu.
“I am thinking that her own conscience wouldn’t have allowed her to just leave [Ejigu] in a lurch,” Assanand said.
She said there is a general lack of support for people like Ejigu with a multitude of issues, including mental health problems and language barriers.
“If you take them to any shelter, if you take them to mental health, nobody takes the responsibility,” she said.
“The woman is from her community and Bayush is very warm-hearted and outgoing and kind and even if there is a person on the street or a stray dog, she would take them in.”
She hopes other agencies also review what happened to ensure any mistakes are not repeated.
“They were all involved ... it was their responsibility,” Assanand said. “How on earth and when on earth did it become our worker’s responsibility? I have no idea.”
Const. Jackelynn Passarell, of Fort St. John RCMP, said Ejigu was originally taken into custody on June 2, 2010, on the attempted murder allegations.
She said bail was initially granted on March 25, with “lots of conditions.”
The trial had been slated for two weeks in August, but “they needed additional time,” Passarell said.
“So at that point there was a modification made on Aug. 22 to her recognizance — a judge made a modification varying some of the conditions, such as her address.”
The continuation date of the attempted murder trial has not yet been fixed, she said.
Hagos was like a mother to the local Ethiopian community, Assanand said, and the society is doing what it can to support her many friends. A celebration of her life is being held today at 1 p.m. at the Renfrew Community Centre in east Vancouver.
Assanand said she also has brought in trauma counsellors for Hagos’s colleagues, who work as advocates for victims of domestic violence and are struggling to cope with their own loss. “We have been working through the sadness of it all and how do we deal with it,” she said. “This is my biggest nightmare.”
kbolan@vancouversun.com
Read The Real Scoop at vancouversun.com/bolan
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Burnaby+woman+have+been+murdered+house+guest/5380238/story.html#ixzz1a4FVp8uC
Good By My Friend ,my real sister
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