The couple of the man responsible for the Nova Scotia massacre in 2020 say the idea that killed their neighbors while looking for her “constantly haunts” her.
Lisa Banfield testified Friday before the Mass Victims Commission that she led a public investigation into the commotion on April 18 and 19, 2020, when her de facto spouse Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people while driving a simulated cruise. of the RCMP throughout the province.
Banfield, who was only being questioned by the commission’s attorney, spoke with two of his sisters by his side.
Earlier, she told police and the commission that the gunman threw her into her RCMP cruise drill, but that she was able to escape and hide in the woods at night.
When Banfield was asked about the victims Greg and Jamie Blair, who lived near the gunman’s property, Banfield said he had no idea why he would go home.
“I feel like he’d addressed me and my family, and if I didn’t get out of that car, I often think,‘ Would any of these people have died? ’” Banfield said through tears.
“This is something that haunts me all the time, because I feel like they weren’t objective, that he was looking for me in the beginning.”
Lisa Banfield, Gabriel Wortman’s civil law wife, is flanked by her sisters Janice Banfield (left) and Maureen Banfield (right) as she testifies to the Mass Scene Commission’s investigation into the mass killings in Nova Scotia rural on April 18th. July 19, 2020, in Halifax on Friday, July 15, 2022. Wortman, dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a replica of the police cruiser, killed 22 people. (The Canadian Press / Andrew Vaughan)
The gunman killed 13 people in the small community of Portapique on April 18 and burned some houses, before fleeing the community in the replica of the cruise. The next day he killed nine more people, including a pregnant woman and an RCMP agent, while driving south through the province.
Banfield was also asked about the different firearms the gunman possessed. Although he said he knew he did not have a gun license, Banfield said he never considered reporting it to police.
“If we had a fight, he put the gun to my head to scare me and told me I could blow my head off,” Banfield said through tears.
“So I was scared. I won’t say anything.”
Banfield said he knew other men also knew Wortman had these weapons and that they were afraid to say anything, “and what will I do?”
He wanted to protect the police from gunmen
He was also asked about what happened when two Halifax regional police officers arrived at the Dartmouth home he shared with the gunman in June 2010, investigating reports that he had threatened to kill his parents. .
At the time, Banfield told officers there were no weapons in the house. He testified Friday that it was not true, but said he lied to protect officers.
“[Wortman] he had the gun next to the nightstand and said if any police came, “I’m shooting,” Banfield said.
Shortly after that, Banfield told RCMP Const. Greg Wiley went through the Portapique country house to see if Wortman had guns.
Wiley at home for 10 minutes: Banfield
The investigation has heard that Wiley visited the gunman’s home more than a dozen times during the years leading up to the mass shooting, since the officer turned to him for advice on local crime.
During that 2010 visit, Banfield said Wiley asked Wortman if he had guns. The gunman showed the Mountie an old carabiner and a decorative pistol on top of a fireplace that was full of wax.
Wiley only stayed in the house for about 10 minutes and did not appear to take an official statement from the gunman, nor did he search the house, Banfield said.
He couldn’t remember if Wiley visited the gunman’s warehouse or if it had already been built by then.
The log house in Portapique, NS, belonging to the Nova Scotia mass shooter. The building, and the nearby warehouse, were burned to the ground during the April 2020 attack. (Mass Victims Commission)
The commission also asked Banfield about the gunman’s process to build one of his Ford Taurus cars out of service in a replica of the RCMP car. She said she urged him to check if she was allowed to have him and offered to call someone herself.
The gunman finally told him he had heard of some kind of authority he might have as long as he didn’t drive him, Banfield said.
But Banfield said he knew the gunman was driving another of the white cruisers out of service that still had a few streaks of vinyl on the rear bumper, and put a neon jacket on the driver’s seat to give the impression. that he was an officer. Wortman told him he liked to speed up the freeway and pass behind the others in the lane until they moved.
“He was thrilled to think they think he’s a police officer,” Banfield said.
The gunman’s warehouse in Portapique, NS, had its RCMP cruise drill, a fireplace, a bar and a loft bedroom. The warehouse, and the large country house nearby, were burned to the ground during the April 18-19, 2020 attack. (Massive Victims Commission)
Banfield repeated what he has maintained for two years: that he had no idea that Wortman was planning any kind of poisoning, even when he stored gas, food, and talked about being prepared to protect his property when he arrived. the end of the world during COVID. -19 pandemic.
He said he never heard him threaten other Portapique neighbors and that in fact he had good relations with many of the people he would kill on April 18th.
Following the mass shooting, Banfield said he has had a lot of support from services such as the Red Cross, women’s advocacy groups and mental health professionals. Other strangers also called for support at first, until the RCMP filed charges against her “and then stopped,” Banfield said.
The RCMP accused Banfield of supplying ammunition to the gunman in December 2020, and she stopped cooperating with police. Banfield also initially refused to speak to the investigation under the advice of his lawyer.
That stance changed when his office was moved to restorative justice in March.
When asked if he needed more support, Banfield said yes, and stopped to catch his breath.
“If it weren’t for my family, I don’t know where I would live, what I would do. And I find it hard to say that because I know I’m here, and my family is here, and there are so many people who aren’t here,” Banfield said.
“I don’t want to complain about what I don’t have.”
Many of the families of the victims attended Banfield’s testimony on Friday, including Ryan Farrington. Her parents, Dawn and Frank Gulenchyn, were killed on April 18 in Portapique.
Ryan Farrington, whose parents Dawn and Frank Gulenchyn were murdered on April 18 in Portapique, speaks with reporters outside the Mass Accident Commission in Halifax on July 15, 2022. (CBC)
Farrington, who lives in Ontario, said he went to the investigation in Halifax to learn more about any connection the gunman had with his parents and to get “some closure.”
Banfield said he knew of no connection between Wortman and the Gulenchyn beyond seeing Frank around the neighborhood, and that there was no conflict the gunman had with them.
“The rest is just a show for me,” Farrington said, adding that the commission only questioned Banfield about things that had been heard before.
Farrington also said he wanted to hear Banfield talk about everything he saw on the night of April 18, because he didn’t believe the story he gave to police through a video that happened months later, describing -lo of “false”.
As of Friday, Banfield has completed four interviews with police since the massacre, this video and five recent interviews with the same commission.
Banfield said Friday that it was hard to know that some people think she or her family had anything to do with the massacre and that they feel like they lost their loved ones.
“We’re not angry because they’re angry, because if it was my family I would feel the same. But he’s angry because he did that and I didn’t. And I would never contribute to that.” said Banfield.
“It’s scary to think people are angry, and then someone might come after me or my family.”
The idea that Banfield lied about what happened on April 18 is a “conspiracy theory,” his attorney James Lockyer said Thursday.
James Lockyer is the lawyer for Lisa Banfield, the mass shooter couple who killed 22 people in April 2020 in Nova Scotia. (CBC)
He said the fact that the commission decided not to allow participating lawyers to ask direct questions at Banfield was “wise” to avoid this issue that “takes us south of the border.”
“You know, these shootings happen south of the border and the next thing we hear from Alex Jones in this world is that the shooting never happened, it’s completely fake and it was invented,” Lockyer said.
“We don’t need that kind of nonsense in Canada or Nova Scotia.”
The gunman began his riot on April 18 after attacking Banfield during a celebration of his 19th birthday. The long history of violence, emotional abuse and other control behaviors of the gunman towards Banfield was described in a founding document released earlier this week.
According to a commission statement, the decision not to allow questions from other participating lawyers is based on the volume of information Banfield has already provided and his position as a “survivor of the perpetrator’s violence.”
Many of the families of the victims left Banfield’s testimony early Friday in protest of how the commission handled their testimony.
Michael Scott of Patterson Law, the company that represents the families of most of the victims, said they had not heard any answers to questions they had about the events of April 2020 and that it made no sense to wait until end of the day.
“We don’t know how we can make it clearer, but Ms. Banfield has very important evidence and we have been denied the opportunity to get that information,” Scott said.
Michael Scott, of the Patterson Law team, which represents most of the families of the victims, announces that they are …