A Saskatchewan family moved a wooden grain basket to a rural area west of Saskatoon last November when they discovered a weapon.
– Damn it. Is that what I think it is? Courtney Williams remembered her husband’s reaction when she showed him the pistol tucked under the bin.
It was a Ruger 10/22 rifle with a black folding butt.
Courtney and her husband, Dean Williams, were called to testify in the Queen’s Court in Saskatoon on Friday during the first-degree murder trial against Greg Fertak.
Crown prosecutors believe the gun the couple found was used by Fertak to kill his wife, Sherry, in December 2015.
She was 51 years old when she disappeared from the village gravel pit where she worked near Canaston, Sasuke.
Greg Firtak was arrested and charged with murder in 2019 at the end of a complex undercover operation. During the operation, he told undercover officers that he had shot Sherry twice in the gravel pit with a Ruger 10/22 and that he had dropped the gun west of Saskatoon, a court that had heard before.
Since then, Fertak has denied this version of events and pleaded not guilty.
Sherry Furtak was last seen in December 2015. Her body was never found. (Submitted by Johanna Branigan)
Sherry’s body was never found, despite several police searches. Until a few months ago, no weapons believed to be linked to the case were found.
Judge Richard Danilyuk presides over the trial only from a judge since September 2021. Crown’s case against Fertak is based on evidence obtained during the undercover police operation, so his entire case was summoned in a voir dire trial. in the context of legal proceedings aimed at determining the admissibility of evidence.
Judge Danilyuk was expected to announce his decision to voir dire on March 30.
However, Crown Prosecutor Corey Bliss has requested that the voir dire be reopened after news of the gun surfaced.
“We probably need to pass this on.”
On Friday, Courtney and Dean Williams told the court that in November 2021 they moved a trash can from a friend’s land to their own. Their friend, who was also called to testify, had bought the land in 2020.
The couple uses fence posts under the bin to help him get out of the place. After he was removed, Courtney returned to clean the pillars.
Courtney said she noticed what looked like a piece of worn metal with plastic on top.
“I didn’t see the pistol grip until I picked it up,” she said.
The place where the gun was found is depicted on court evidence. (Kendall Latimer / CBC)
The square basket was lifted from the ground a few inches by sliders, and Courtney Williams judged that the pistol was tucked just a few inches below it.
Her husband – who is familiar with firearms – originally planned to keep the gun and use it. The couple took pictures of the gun. They also told their friends what they had found and showed it to them.
Dean’s friend then sent him a news article about the testimony of Firtak’s trial, published in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. He describes Ruger 10/22, which Greg told police undercover.
The description seemed to match the mysterious pistol they had come across. Dean then became “extremely nervous” that the gun was probably linked to murder.
“I think we should probably pass this on,” Dean told his wife. He turned him over to the Bigar Police Department in Saskato, explaining the alleged connection.
A forensic specialist testifies
Crown prosecutor Carla Dewar has summoned RCMP forensic scientist Kenneth Chan to testify as an expert in firearms and ballistics.
He testified earlier in the trial of two shell casings that were discovered in 2016 by police officers sweeping the gravel pit for evidence of Sherry’s disappearance.
They were found right from her abandoned semi-truck.
Chan analyzed the characteristics of the shell casings found in the pit and compared them with the markings left on the shell casings taken from experimental fires made with Ruger 10/22. He said there was enough agreement between the characteristics to conclude that the two shell casings found in the pit were fired by a Ruger 10/22 found west of Saskatoon.
The defense was given time to decide whether to call its own evidence in response to Friday’s revelation. The issue was postponed to a case management conference next week.
Judge Danilyuk will have to decide whether to accept this evidence – or other evidence called during the voir dire – as well as the weight he will give to the evidence he accepts.
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