HALIFAX –
The partner of the person liable for the worst mass capturing in trendy Canadian historical past says she was charged with supplying ammunition to the killer as a result of the RCMP needed to deflect attention from errors made throughout their investigation.
In a lawsuit filed Oct. 21 in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, Lisa Banfield accuses the RCMP and the province’s Public Prosecution Service of conspiring to stage a malicious prosecution that led to a “trumped-up cost” filed on Dec. 4, 2020.
“(The) Nova Scotia RCMP instigated a baseless investigation into the plaintiff’s involvement within the occasions of April 18-19, 2020 in an effort to attract attention away from the errors dedicated by the … RCMP of their response to the (killings),” the lawsuit alleges.
The allegations haven’t been examined in courtroom. The federal and provincial attorneys common — each of whom are named within the go well with — couldn’t be instantly reached for remark.
The assertion of declare, filed within the courthouse in Amherst, N.S., goes on to allege the cost towards Banfield was meant to create the looks that the RCMP have been doing one thing after a federal-provincial inquiry was established in July 2020.
As effectively, Banfield alleges the RCMP failed to tell her of her proper to have a lawyer current when she supplied recorded statements to the Mounties and later walked them via her actions on the night time the killing began in Portapique, N.S.
The doc concludes by arguing the cost was illegal as a result of the Mounties and the Crown failed to acknowledge that Banfield’s associate, denture-maker Gabriel Wortman, had subjected her to life-threatening violence all through their relationship.
“(The) actions of the Nova Scotia RCMP and the (Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service) … have been a blatant and callous disregard of the plaintiff’s rights,” the lawsuit says.
According to the go well with, the RCMP had assured Banfield she was “being considered solely as a sufferer” early of their investigation.
And when RCMP first introduced expenses towards Banfield, her brother and brother-in-law, investigators acknowledged the three had no data of what the gunman would do. They have been charged with giving the killer .223-calibre Remington cartridges and .40-calibre Smith and Wesson cartridges. All expenses have been withdrawn by the Crown after the trio took half in a restorative justice program.
The public inquiry, which wrapped up public hearings in September, heard that on the night time of April 18, 2020, Wortman beat Banfield and fired gunshots at her earlier than she was handcuffed and shoved behind a automobile that he had modified to look precisely like a marked RCMP cruiser.
Banfield managed to flee and hid in a close-by wooded lot in Portapique, earlier than she fled to a neighbour’s residence, the place police have been known as at daybreak.
The gunman fatally shot 13 individuals in Portapique earlier than fleeing the agricultural enclave round 10:45 p.m. After spending the night time in close by Debert, N.S., he killed one other 9 individuals whereas main police on a chase that spanned greater than 100 kilometres throughout northern and central Nova Scotia. After 13 hours at massive, he was shot to loss of life by a Mountie when he stopped at a fuel station north of Halifax.
Banfield was interviewed by RCMP investigators on April 19, 20 and 28 — however she was by no means advised she may have a lawyer along with her, the lawsuit alleges.
During a information convention on April 28, 2020, RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell described Banfield because the “first sufferer,” and he emphasised that she didn’t have something to do with the killer’s actions, the doc says.
The lawsuit says the inquiry, which began hearings in February 2022, “positioned intense stress on the Nova Scotia RCMP because it threatened to show errors dedicated” by the Mounties. That stress prompted the RCMP to launch a prosecution that induced Banfield to “endure vital losses for which she claims common and particular damages.” The quantity of damages sought is just not specified.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Nov. 3, 2022.