Man says jail friend forced him to steal guns

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This article was published 25/02/2016 (3698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who admits to breaking into a Brandon gun store and stealing 13 semi-automatic handguns says he had to commit the crime to keep his family safe.

William Charles Trask said he was “groomed,” abused and threatened into committing the break-in by the man who planned it.

“It was a lot of psychological terror that he really instilled in me,” Trask testified during his trial in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench on Wednesday.

The trial began Tuesday, and Justice John Menzies is expected to deliver a verdict this afternoon.

Trask is charged with 10 counts, including break and enter to steal a firearm, and possession of a semi-automatic handgun for the purpose of trafficking. Those charges relate to the one gun police recovered — thanks to Trask.

Jo-Brook Firearms was broken into in the early hours of July 3, 2012. One of the gun cases had been pried open and in total 13 to 14 semi-automatic handguns were stolen.

Trask’s lawyer, Jonathan Richert, said his client admitted his involvement almost from the start, but was forced to commit the crime by a “psychological predator” and should be acquitted as he acted under duress.

On the stand, Trask offered the following story about how he was trapped by a series of lies. He began by describing how he met a man while in prison in British Columbia.

Trask, who is five-foot-four and 110 pounds, described how he was bullied growing up, and was also bullied by other inmates due to his size while in prison in the summer of 2011.

But another, large inmate took him under his wing. He taught Trask to deter his bullies by ignoring them and trained him in martial arts to build his confidence and self-esteem.

The pair would talk about what they’d do when released.

Trask’s new friend told him he was a drug lord who could cook crystal meth. He offered to bring Trask into the fold, to perhaps train him as a pilot to transport his “cargo.”

Trask said his friend played the part of a criminal with connections. His buddy was in a unit that housed organized crime members, and he’d shown Trask his corrections paperwork that outlined his connections.

Trask’s prison mate was released first and he sent a letter to Trask who remained in prison. The letter had the friend’s phone number on it, and Trask called him once he was released and they maintained phone contact.

But the phone conversations took an unpleasant turn, Trask said.

His friend told him he owed him money because he’d obtained paperwork that would allow Trask to start a new life.

Trask said his buddy started to demand that he commit crimes to pay him back.

While Trask was living in Wetaskiwin, Alta., the man told him to steal money from the grocery store where he worked. Trask testified that when he refused, his friend threatened to send his “crew” to beat him up.

Trask was also told to rob a bank truck, a task he failed at. Via texts, the man threatened to send his “guys” to the home where Trask was staying with another friend and kill everyone there except Trask to teach him a lesson.

At another point, the former friend told Trask that he had people watching him.

In the fall of 2012, Trask fled to Penticton, B.C., to his tormentor’s “territory” to find out if his claims of ties to organized crime were true.

But the threats continued. Trask said his bully monitored his movement on Facebook and he was afraid to delete the man because of his professed connections.

The man threatened to send people to harm yet another of Trask’s friends and his child, and to “get” Trask’s parents in Nova Scotia where he was originally from.

Trask decided to move to Brandon where his abuser lived with his parents.

He told court that he wanted to settle whether the man really had ties to organized crime. Trask also said he wanted to put himself in harm’s way, and deflect threats away from his loved ones.

Once in Brandon and on the way to his parents’ home, Trask’s acquaintance pointed to homes which he claimed to belong to cops, and pointed out an SUV parked down the street that supposedly contained undercover police who had him under surveillance.

The man also named an officer and CSIS and probation workers who he said were on his payroll.

To Trask, the fact he was once arrested for a break-in and released without charge, and his probation officer was switched seemed to confirm the man’s story. It was only later, he said, that he found out it was all a lie.

“This all sounds like out of a movie script really… but are you believing him at this time?” Richert asked.

“I know it sounds stupid now, but I mean at the time he’d had me so brainwashed and paranoid that I didn’t know how to do deal with it,” Trask responded. “I truly did believe it.”

Trask said he doubted his abuser’s story, but it was still plausible and he couldn’t disprove it, so he erred on the side of caution.

After suffering a couple of assaults at his host’s hands and watching him beat his girlfriend, Trask said he was in fear of his life.

When his abuser came up with a plan to break into Jo-Brook, Trask did it.

Following his arrest, he told police he scouted the business a number of times and failed to pry open the main doors. He then “fluked” and found a door at the back of the shop which he pried open with a crowbar.

He loaded the guns from the case into his backpack and took them to his boss.

Trask told police that all the guns were sold, and he received $100 for each one sold.

However, for some unknown reason, one of the guns was returned and Trask hid it under the stairs of his host’s home.

It was Trask who actually helped police solve the case. He testified that in 2013, a mutual friend finally revealed that his former prison friend didn’t have ties to organized crime.

The gun, he said, was the evidence he needed to break free and he went to police.

However, when police searched the home in July 2013 and found the handgun, Trask was arrested and charged along with the man who he says planned the heist.

At the time of his arrest, the remaining 12 to 13 guns were still missing.

Crown attorney Grant Hughes argued that Trask can’t claim the defence of duress.

Hughes said he didn’t have to steal the guns to escape the man he says threatened him, his friends and family.

Trask himself had doubted the man’s story, the abuser hadn’t followed through on past threats, and Trask had the chance to warn his loved ones or report the threats to police but didn’t.

The accused was protecting his own friends and family by putting the public in danger.

“We now have a dozen firearms out in the criminal ether,” Hughes said.

Andrew Wigman remains charged in connection to the break-in and is scheduled for trial next month.

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