Chilling details revealed by spouse of N.S. mass killer
CTV
A day after 22 people in rural Nova Scotia were shot dead by a man disguised as a Mountie, his common-law spouse described him as a controlling, abusive and manipulative man who had long warned he would be 'going out with a bang.'
The previously undisclosed comments from Lisa Banfield are contained in a transcript of a two-hour interview with an RCMP officer on April 20, 2020, released late Tuesday by an independent commission of inquiry investigating the mass shooting.
The results of the interrogation offer chilling new details about Banfield’s 19-year relationship with the killer and his deeply troubled personality and upbringing. It's also the first time the public has been allowed to assess Banfield's story in her own words.
During the interview, Banfield made it clear Gabriel Wortman was a “loving, kind and generous” man when they first met. But his volatile, unpredictable moods led to beatings and verbal abuse soon after they started living part time in an upscale “cottage” he had built in Portapique, N.S., in 2003.
“In the past, he was abusive and I would appease him and say whatever I could to make it stop,” she told RCMP Staff Sgt. Greg Vardy during an interview at the Colchester East Hants Health Centre in Truro, N.S.