(Halifax) The testimony of an RCMP officer described by a colleague as a man responsible for the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia will not be released publicly.
Posted at 5:44 p.m.
The Mass Casualty Commission announced on Friday that Officer Greg Wiley will answer questions via video. His testimony will not be broadcast in real time. Only the verbatim of his answers will be published on the commission’s website.
He becomes the first witness whose testimony will not be broadcast live by the commission.
“In order to get the best information from Constable Wiley, we have ordered that his testimony not be broadcast on the internet. A verbatim will be published on the website,” reads the decision.
The motion to exempt Constable Wiley’s testimony from broadcast was made by the Attorney General of Canada. Thus, any video and any audio extract “may not be broadcast, published, or shared”.
The appearance by Zoom of the police officer can however be seen by the participants in the investigation, the media and those who request it. We can also listen to the proceedings by telephone.
Agent Wiley is the policeman who went in 2010 to check if Gabriel Wortman, the person responsible for the killing, had firearms in his home in Portapique, Nova Scotia. Wortman then allegedly issued death threats against his parents.
No charges had been filed.
According to a document released by the commission in May, the Halifax Regional Police Service led the investigation in 2010. Detective Cordell Hull, now retired, said his colleague was “a friend” of Wortman. Mr. Poirier said he repeatedly asked Constable Wiley to visit Wortman at his home to see if he kept any firearms and if a search warrant would be needed to search the place.
Also during the interview with the investigators, Constable Wiley could not recall certain details of the 2010 investigation. By letter from the RCMP, the commission learned that the police officer had not kept his notes of the time.
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