RCMP investigate Mahone Bay deaths as intimate partner violence

There’s been another deadly incident of intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia.

Southwest Nova RCMP confirms two suspicious deaths in Mahone Bay are the result of intimate partner violence.

Police say they responded to a request to check on the well-being of two people at a home on Long Hill Road in Mahone Bay shortly after 1 p.m. on Jan. 5. Responding officers discovered the remains of a 60-year-old woman and a 75-year-old man in the home.

Investigators confirmed the woman’s death was the result of homicide while the man died of self-inflicted wounds and is responsible for the woman’s death.

The killing came less than a week after the New Year’s Eve deaths in Halifax of 40-year-old Cora-Lee Smith and her 73-year-old father Bradford Downey, allegedly as the result of gunshots fired by her 39-year-old boyfriend Matthew Costain, who killed himself.

Since Oct. 18, there have been five murder-suicides involving couples reported by police in Nova Scotia, and in each case a man killed his female partner before taking his own life.

Including Downey, the number of people killed has risen to six since the provincial legislature in September declared intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia to be an epidemic.

The Mounties did not release the name of the latest victim or her partner.

With files from The Canadian Press.