2 weeks Ago By Kevin Martin
The sole issue a Calgary judge needs to consider in the threats trial of Derek Fildebrandt is what was said when the former MLA scared a group of teens from his property while waving a cane, his lawyer said Wednesday. Defence counsel Alain Hepner said it’s clear Fildebrandt screamed at a group of four teenagers, believing they had vandalized ornaments on his lawn. “What’s crucial at this point is what did he say and what was heard,” Hepner told Justice Allan Fradsham.
“The crux, in my view, is what did he say to these boys.” The lawyer said the Calgary Court of Justice judge ought to believe Fildebrandt’s testimony that he told the boys as they fled the area: “Stop, come back here or I’ll call the police.” But Crown prosecutor Stephanie Morton said Fradsham should believe the teens, three of whom testified that Fildebrandt, who had just arrived home from a business trip to Ottawa, when he saw them loitering on the sidewalk in front of his Crestmont home.
“He was tired, jet-lagged and angry, and he threatened those kids,” Morton said in outlining the Crown’s theory. “He was disproportionately enraged when they were running away.” in connection with the incident at his southwest home the evening of April 18.
In his testimony, Fildebrandt, who at the time was using a cane due to an injury suffered in a motorcycle accident, admitted he told police he . But he denied threatening to shoot them. Fildebrandt said he believed the group had been vandalizing ornaments and signs on his property, which asked his neighbours not to let their dogs do their business on his lawn as had occurred previously.
“It’s my respectful submission he ought to be acquitted on all four counts before you,” Hepner told Fradsham. But Morton pointed to evidence from one of Fildebrandt’s neighbours to support her argument the boys should be believed when they said they feared he was going to shoot them. One of the teens went to the home of Vanessa Lunse, who then came outside and confronted Fildebrandt, who had chased after the boys in his pickup after they fled.
Lunse asked Fildebrandt if he told the kids he had a gun, which he denied, but added: “I told them I protect my property and belongings with a gun.” Morton said that alone amounted to a threat, while Hepner suggested it didn’t meet the Criminal Code definition. Fradsham will hand down a verdict in November.
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