Halifax police say the death of a 19-year-old woman found dead last month inside a large oven at a Walmart in the city’s west end is not suspicious and there is no evidence of foul play.
Halifax Regional Police offered a short update in a news release on the case Monday, but did not say how Kaur died, only that the death was not suspicious.
Walmart said last week the bakery oven was being removed from the store. Removing the oven had always been part of a standard remodel program being implemented across the country, the company said.
There is so much plausible and/or perceived foul play here that the police saying “no evidence of foul play” by one of the world’s largest companies and releasing no other details of this young woman’s death is not good enough.
I hope civil charges are pressed, because as far as I’m concerned more eyes and publicity are needed on this case.
“No evidence of foul play” just means there’s no proof that anyone set out to kill her on purpose. It doesn’t mean that there’s no evidence of negligence, although the police may not think they have enough to bring criminal charges in that vein, either. The burden of proof in a criminal court is high, and there’s no point in wasting the court’s time if there isn’t enough evidence to convict anyone.
Civil court has a much lower burden of proof, and I hope the victim’s family sues Walmart’s pants off, because it really does look like there was an issue either with the equipment or with employee training that contributed to this.