Half French-Canadian and half Guyanese, she lived an adventurous and fulfilling life, acquiring three degrees, including a PhD in international business, all while working and raising her young children. (Submitted by Raphael Ready)Ī trade commissioner with Global Affairs Canada, Anne-Marie spoke five languages and had served abroad in several high-profile postings, including the Canadian Embassy in Peru and the High Commission of Canada to Barbados. He said Graves "aimed for Jasmine's face only," stabbing her multiple times, including her eyes.Īnne-Marie Ready, seen here flanked by her daughters, received her PhD in international business in July 2019 while working as a trade commissioner with Global Affairs Canada. "She collapsed in front of the garage on top of Jasmine with her arms wrapped around her, trying to protect her body," Raphael said. They, too, tried to escape the house, but never made it past the garage. Meanwhile, according to what investigators told Raphael, Anne-Marie mustered what little strength she had left to save her younger daughter. "I was screaming at the neighbours to try to help, and no one did anything." Begging for her life "I was on my hands and knees in the middle of the road, covered in my own blood," she recalled. "I felt like I wasn't getting an answer, so I threw the phone and I just started running," she said. (Michel Aspirot/CBC)Īs the struggle ensued, Catherine said she tried to call for help from their home phone, including dialling 911. Anne-Marie's final act was to try to shield her daughter from further harm. Jasmine and Anne-Marie, seen together in this photo, died in the attack. Momentarily distracted, Graves lunged in her direction. Hearing screams from the living room, Jasmine rushed downstairs. After stabbing her mother, Catherine said he turned to attack her.
And then he stabbed my mom in front of me."Ĭatherine said she watched Graves swiftly pull a knife out of his pocket with his right hand. "My mom had gotten him a glass of water and sat down on the couch and asked what was going on," she said. 'No one did anything'īut Anne-Marie was preoccupied with Graves, who by then was sitting on the couch in the living room, so Catherine slipped into an armchair facing him to keep an eye on things, or, in her words, to be "a discreet presence in the room." "I didn't feel comfortable with her being alone with him," she said.īy the time she arrived downstairs, Catherine said she felt compelled to pull her mother aside, sensing a "weird gut feeling" about the visit from Graves. She said she instinctively grabbed Jasmine by her shirt and told her to go stay in the room, while she went downstairs to check on their mother. "When I was initially told, for a solid five minutes there was absolutely nothing, just me screaming and trying to be calmed down by nurses and other police officers," she said. "I just kept screaming out, 'I don't have a mother anymore at all! I don't have my sister anymore!'"įrom the top of these stairs, Catherine and Jasmine could see Joshua Graves at the front door of their family home. Her mother, Anne-Marie Ready, 50, and her sister Jasmine Ready, 15, both died that night, which she only learned hours later in hospital when a sergeant from the Ottawa Police Service arrived. 'About 4 cops with their guns drawn': Neighbour saw police kill man who stabbed women, teen girl Though there had been warning signs over the years, no one on Anoka Street - including the killer's own father - predicted a tragedy of this scale, which began in the living room of the Ready family's two-storey home before spilling out onto the street, and ended with police shooting both Ready and her attacker.
"Half of me is here, half of me is constantly replaying what happened that night," said Ready, who is breaking her silence by speaking to CBC for the first time since surviving multiple stab wounds and a bullet shot by police. The 19-year-old University of Ottawa student, who now bears scars across the back of her hand, scalp and forehead, said the June 27 attack has made her terrified of people and jumpy over "every little sound and every little thing." Catherine Ready still grapples with nightmares nearly two months after surviving a vicious knife attack that killed her mother and sister, a dark incident that has forever altered the fates of two families in a quiet Ottawa suburb.