Police officer was with Quebec woman when she was slain, distraught father says

The father of the 18-year-old woman stabbed to death yesterday in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., says his daughter was escorted by a police officer when she went to collect her things from the apartment she'd shared until recently with her ex-boyfriend.

Daphn Huard-Boudreaultdied on the scene. Anthony Pratte-Lops, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with her death.

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Quebec's independent police investigation unit (BEI)has been called in to determine how police handled the case.

In an interview with Radio-Canada, the dead woman's father, ric Boudreault, said a female police officerhad accompanied his daughter and her stepmother to the apartment early Wednesday afternoon, to supervise while the young womancollected her possessions.

He said it was his understanding that his daughter had gone justahead of the other women, and she was killed as soon as she stepped foot into the apartment.

Boudreaultsaid it happened so fast, by the time his wife entered the apartment, the police officer had his daughter's assailant on the ground and was handcuffing him.

Neither the BEI,the RichelieuSaint-Laurent intermunicipal police force nor Quebec provincial police have commented on the father's version of events. Provincial police, however, have confirmed that Daphn Huard-Boudreaultdied of stab wounds.

The young woman had just recently ended a long-term relationship with her former boyfriend, and he was refusing to accept that, ric Boudreault said.

"For the past month, she's been trying to break up with him, but he had threatened to kill himself," he told Radio-Canada.

Asked for police protection

Just hours before her death, the teenhadaskedlocal police for protection from her former partner, according to her friend and boss, ShannonMeilleur.

Meilleur, the managerat the DpanneurBeau-SoirinOtterburnParkwhere Huard-Boudreaultworked, said the young woman found her ex-boyfriend waiting inside her car Wednesdaymorning when she went to dust the snow off the vehicle to drive it to work.

Meilleur said Huard-Boudreaultarrived at the convenience store with the man still in her car, who was in such a rage that a co-workerprevented the manfrom coming into the store, and a frightened Huard-Boudreaultcalled the local police.

Meilleur said policecame to the dpanneur andspoke tothe ex-boyfriendoutside before concluding there wasn't anything they could do to help her.

She said the officersthen called the man a cab.

Stolen cellphone

Meilleursaid that Huard-Boudreaultwas frightened and frustrated,asking her co-workerswhether her exwould have to kill her forpolice to do something.

By that point, Meilleursaid, the ex-boyfriend hadstolenHuard-Boudreault'scellphone and had been messaging all her friends that she needed to beat their apartment at 1 p.m., she said.

Meilleursaid that althoughher friend was clearly scared, she was determined to collect her things and check on her pets left behindin the apartment she had shared with her ex.

"I asked her before she left, 'Daphn, are you going to get your things alone?' And she said she was going with her stepmother. That was it,"Meilleurtold CBC's Daybreak.

Role of police to be examined

Quebec Public Security Minister MartinCoiteux said Thursday his thoughts were with the family of the deceased.

"I have two daughters at home who are the same age," Coiteux said. "I can well understand how the parents, friends and family of the victim are feeling."

The Sret du Qubechas the "necessary resources and expertise" to investigate the murder, he said.

However, given the questions raised in the media about how police had handled the case, "it's important, I think, that the Bureau des enqutes indpendantes [independent police investigation unit]also examine what happened from the point of view of the role of the police."

"We are in the process of improving our training,"Coiteuxtold CBC News, when asked about how police handleviolence against women.

The BEI said in a news release Thursday it has assigned five investigators to the case, and it invited witnesses to contact the unit through its website.