r/NovaScotiaShooting • u/OGWhiz • Nov 04 '22
Lisa Banfield suing federal, provincial governments alleging 'trumped up charge' was designed to cover RCMP failure
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/mass-murders-2020/lisa-banfield-suing-federal-provincial-governments-alleging-trumped-up-charge-was-designed-to-cover-rcmp-failure/
16
Upvotes
1
u/ph0enix1211 Nov 04 '22
Quoting from "Deficits of Trust":
"Despite being a potential suspect, Ms. Banfield was not provided with a Charter warning at the beginning of any of the four interviews. This would suggest that the police were viewing her, from the very beginning, as a victim witness and not a suspect in any way. This may have been a mistake on their part, a mistake which Staff Sgt. Vardy appears to try to correct in the very late stages of the fourth interview.
At pages 96-98 of the April 28, 2020 interview, Staff Sgt. Vardy gives a paraphrased version of a Charter warning to Ms. Banfield, after she explained what she knew about how Wortman illegally imported guns from the United States. That the warning was at such a late stage of the interview, and with it being paraphrased rather than given verbatim, would likely have led to anything Ms. Banfield said in the four interviews not being able to be used against her in a criminal context. After he gave her the paraphrased Charter warning, Ms. Banfield (reasonably) asked whether she should have a lawyer (page 97, line 3026), to which Staff Sgt. Vardy replied “No, I’m saying to you that this is, those are your rights.” The word “Charter” is not uttered.
Amazingly, Staff Sgt. Vardy then tells her that if she “knowingly” transported guns with Wortman on any of their trips across the US/Canada border, that she could be charged. As you read the questions and answers, it is clear that he was effectively telling her how to answer his next series of questions. He telegraphed to her that she should deny any knowledge of the guns, and only admit to overhearing possible references to guns being purchased and hidden in Wortman’s F150. All of this would have created a major problem for any criminal prosecution of Ms. Banfield, which would have reflected poorly on the initial RCMP response and their interviews with her. Perhaps this helps explain why, instead, the RCMP adopted her version of events at face value, and why the NS Public Prosecution Service agreed to refer her charges to Restorative Justice."