The Mass Casualty Commission released footage Wednesday of Lisa Banfield walking an RCMP investigator about what she remembered happening in Portapique, NS, on April 18 and 19, 2020, including how her partner hit her and tried to handcuffs. The reenactment was filmed in late October 2020, six months after Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people while driving a mock RCMP car. A few weeks after filming the reenactment, Banfield was accused of supplying the gunman with ammunition. The Crown ultimately decided there was no public interest in sending the case to trial and instead referred the matter to restorative justice. Upon completion, the criminal charge will be dropped. “I have concerns about the timing and concerns about the fact that she was charged in the first place,” Banfield’s defense attorney, James Lockyer, said Thursday. Erin Breen, an attorney who represents three sexual assault and justice groups — Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Wellness Within and Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund — said she was concerned about the turn of events. “It’s always been a very troubling issue from our perspective. My clients were very angry when they learned that Ms. Banfield was being charged,” he said. “Systemically it’s a problem when a survivor comes forward and shares information about their survival behavior and ends up being charged in a criminal investigation.”
Banfield said she pleaded with the gunman
In the videos released Wednesday, Banfield explains how the couple were celebrating their 19th anniversary when they started fighting.
After drifting off for the night, Banfield said the gunman pulled the covers off the bed and attacked her, kicking her against the bedpost. He then pulled her through the cottage, which he noticed was already filled with gasoline, and set the building on fire as soon as they got outside, she told the investigator.
Banfield said the gunman dragged her into the garage and tried to handcuff her.
“Looking into his eyes, there was nothing there,” she said. “It was so cold.”
Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulensin, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulensin, Sean McLeod, Alana Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC)
Banfield was able to escape – shoeless – and hide for the next few hours, terrified that she would be found as he heard gunshots.
Medical records released through the inquest show Banfield spent five nights in the hospital after suffering broken ribs and vertebrae, as well as extensive bruising and scratches from the night of April 18.
Other documents released Thursday as part of the commission covered how the gunman used violence, emotional abuse and other controlling behavior toward Banfield over nearly two decades.
Push for more police training
Megan Stephens, a lawyer for Women’s Refuges of Canada, said she worries Banfield’s experience will discourage other women from going to the police. “I worry about the message people are getting because sometimes the violence is such that people have to call the police; there’s no one else who can step in to protect them,” he said. “But in this case, it seems like there have been a lot of failures, and the message that I think women will unfortunately get if they connect these dots, if they’re in abusive relationships themselves, is I don’t know if this is the right choice for me.” WATCHES | Inquest hears from NS shooter’s wife about years of abuse, control
Inquest hears from NS shooter’s wife about years of abuse, control
The public inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass murder has released dramatic footage and previously unseen testimony from the killer’s wife. She described suffering years of abuse at the hand of the gunman, including the night he killed 22 people. Breen said she hopes the commission’s work will at least spark a conversation about how police and the justice system should approach intimate partner abuse. “You see it very often in situations where women defend themselves with violent behavior, they end up being accused of assault,” she said. “The current pro-arrest, pro-charge, pro-prosecute policy removes any choice or power from the survivor.” Stephens also said she hopes police will receive more training on how to better recognize and respond to abuse, including controlling behavior. Lisa Banfield’s running shoes, lost while on the run from Gabriel Wortman, are on display as counsel for the commission, Gillian Hnatiu, presents a key document about Wortman’s abusive behavior towards Banfield, his common-law wife, at the inquest of the Mass Casualties Committee on mass killings in rural areas. Nova Scotia on April 18 and 19, 2020, in Halifax on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. Wortman, dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a replica police cruiser, murdered 22 people. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press) “Partner violence doesn’t just involve discrete acts of physical violence, there are other ways that controlling, coercive behavior can really lead to people being basically stuck in situations and not having any control,” she said. “Unfortunately, there’s not enough training to prepare the officers who are on the front lines. More so in some of these rural communities where you don’t have specialists, you have generalists.”
Banfield felt “betrayed” by the reenactment filming
In an interview Banfield gave to a lawyer for the commission in April this year, she said she felt ambushed by the shooting of the reenactment. He said he wanted to meet RCMP Sgt. Greg Vardy at the cottage in Portapeak to see where her sneakers had been left and where she had hidden during the night. It was the first time he had been back to the cottage since the night of the rampage. “I heard that people thought I was lying about what happened, I thought if I go there for the first time, I want someone to see, you know, find my shoes, find that tree, find what I’m telling you that they happened,” he said. But Banfield said that when she went to meet Maudey, she brought a small audio and video crew with her. “I felt betrayed,” she said. Her sister, Maureen, later joins the interview. He said Banfield was not in the right state of mind to make the representation. “That’s what I feel is probably the deepest betrayal in terms of manipulating her investigation without our knowledge,” Maureen Banfield said. “It was horrible and I think it was very damning for her psyche, and that is to me, I think, the most egregious thing that happened in terms of her well-being and her first place.”
Banfield is not under investigation during filming
An RCMP spokesperson said Banfield was not under investigation at the time the reenactment was filmed. “The victim/witness video representation related to a period of time where Ms. Banfield was the victim of multiple crimes. Since she was not under investigation, it would not be appropriate to afford her rights afforded to a person who is being investigated for a crime or who is in custody ” said Cpl. Chris Marshall. “Lisa Banfield has been granted a plea of arrest, rights to counsel and a police warning as required by law during the investigation in which she is charged with ammunition-related offenses.”
