Angry husband of murdered woman questions testimony during N.S. mass shooting hearing

TRURO, N.S. -

The Mountie responsible for sharing information with families in the Nova Scotia mass shooting faced angry accusations from the husband of a victim Tuesday, forcing a brief adjournment of the public inquiry into the killings.

During cross-examination of Const. Wayne (Skipper) Bent, Nick Beaton, the spouse of a pregnant woman killed on April 19, 2020, shouted at the officer as he was testifying about why Kristen Beaton's cellphone couldn't be returned 10 days after her murder.

Michael Scott, a lawyer for the majority of the 22 victims' families, was asking Bent whether he recalled telling Beaton the RCMP had to examine his wife's phone to rule out any prior relationship she might have had with the killer.

Bent testified he couldn't recall saying this, and when further questioned, said, "We would have told him (Beaton) 'We were looking at everything.' At that point in time, what was the relationship as to why (the killer) was and wasn't looking at certain people? ... We have to look at everything out there that's a possibility."

Beaton -- who was attending the hearings in a Truro hotel -- became distraught over Bent's answer and shouted, "I heard you say that to me .... You're under oath."

Commission chairman Michael MacDonald first asked Beaton to sit down, and then added, "That's enough," as others attending started to shout and criticize the proceedings. The chairman then ordered a break.

When Bent returned, he clarified that while he may have told Beaton that investigators had to rule out any prior relationship, he didn't mean to suggest any intimate relationship had existed.

During morning testimony, Bent spoke of how there was no policy manual to follow on how to deal with grieving families. He also said he had no formal training in this area before being appointed as the liaison officer but he did his best to help.

A summary of evidence released by the public inquiry noted that Bent contacted a local cleaning and restoration company to clean the residence of Greg and Jamie Blair, who were murdered in Portapique, N.S., after the crime scene was released on May 4, 2020.

It also says the constable worked alongside an exhibit custodian to clean the blood from the couples' jewelry before returning it to their family.

According to the summary, Bent also contacted Nick Beaton's car insurance company in April 2020 to raise concerns about the firm selling the car Krista Beaton was murdered in at public auction. He received assurances it would be sold out of province.

Still, as time passed, some family members grew distrustful of the RCMP and its reluctance to share information, according to the summary released on Tuesday.

The document says that on June 26, 2020, Beaton attended a meeting at the detachment in Bible Hill for an update from the Mounties and "stated the meeting was unprofessional and he wished that he had brought his lawyer with him."

The daughter and son-in-law of Gina Goulet -- who was killed in Shubenacadie, N.S., on April 19 -- are quoted as saying "it was frustrating and upsetting," to find a bullet in Goulet's home on May 23, 2020, and the missed evidence, "made them lose their trust in the police."

Ryan and Jon Farrington, the sons of Dawn and Frank Gulenchyn -- murdered on April 18 -- told the inquiry that during a July 6, 2020 meeting with investigators they "did not receive the answers they were looking for."

During his testimony, Bent defended having just one officer to act as the RCMP go-between for the 22 families in the months after the killings.

"To me it was very important the same message would go out to everybody," he testified. "I'm no expert in this. I learned as I went along. To me it just seemed reasonable to have it done that way."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 21, 2022.

By Michael Tutton in Halifax