Friends and family of Calgary woman slain by ex-boyfriend in parkade call for judicial changes

Family and friends of Madisson Cobb lobby in at the Calgary Courts Centre in an effort to strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence and stalking.

Friends and family of a recently-killed Calgary woman gathered Saturday to honour her life and call for judicial change.

Twenty-three-year-old Madisson Cobb was shot while leaving work in a Haysboro parkade on July 19.

Police have charged her ex-boyfriend, 26-year-old Devon Bradley Malik, with first-degree murder. They say Cobb was killed in an underground parking lot after repeated stalking and harassment.

Saturday, a group lobbied in front of Calgary courts in favour of Bill C-332, a proposed law that could strengthen protections for victims of domestic violence and stalking.

“It’s important to stand out here and show people we mean business,” Cobb’s cousin Taylor Matusik said. “We want change, and we’re going to use our voices until we can’t anymore.”

If passed, the bill would help ensure restraining orders are enforced.

That was part of the problem with Cobb’s case, Matusik said, as she had been granted a restraining order against Malik before she was killed.

“And this isn’t just for her,” she said. “Someone could’ve lost their daughter, someone could’ve lost their son to this. Even a (parent) or grandparent.”

“It’s frustrating to see our ‘protective measures’ get brushed off by the government,” friend Danielle Edgar added. “How many times does a person have to suffer violence of any sort; verbal, physical, and emotional? You never think it’ll happen to you, until it does.“

“(Cobb) did everything she was supposed to do in order to keep herself safe, but the system let her down.”

Cobb is being remembered for her passion for life, pride in her work and love of her family.

“She was full of life and had so much to live for,” Edgar said. “She was one of my best friends, and she wasn’t done living. Her story was not complete — it was cut short.”

Advocates say ‘patterns’ repeating

A registered non-profit that advocates for domestic abuse and sexual violence survivors says Cobb’s story is all too familiar.

“The country has become a graveyard of preventable deaths,” End Violence Everywhere’s Cait Alexander said. “It’ll happen more if we do not manage these issues, and if we do not get it together and reform our entire judicial system to be trauma-informed and to understand the state of survivors and what these abusers are doing.”

End Violence Everywhere is hosting a local event later this month, Purple Reins, dedicated to supporting survivors.

They’ll also be remembering Cobb.

“The patterns were noticeable, and the system refused to do its job to protect her,” Alexander said. “She should be here, and I’m sick and tired of seeing this every single day.”