In a videotaped police interview conducted on the day Richard Oland’s battered body was discovered in his uptown Saint John office, his son Dennis telling Constable Stephen Davidson, who would become the lead investigator in the case, that he had no reason to want to see his father dead.
The second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland, who is accused of killing his father, watching video of that interview where Dennis Oland says that he did not have any involvement in his father’s death. Asked who might be involved Dennis saying the only person that comes to mind is a “supposed girlfriend” because, as he puts it, “she really seemed to be a whack-job.”
Davidson asking Dennis what he was wearing when he went to go visit his father on July 6 he says “these pants, these shoes, a dress shirt, and a navy blazer.” Richard Oland’s secretary Maureen Adamson says Dennis was wearing a brown jacket when he arrived alone at around 5:30pm. Four areas of blood were found on a brown jacket that was seized from Dennis Oland’s home on July 14, 2011.
He says that he went to his father’s office twice, the first time was around 5:15pm and he didn’t actually go in that time and the second time around 5:30pm. He says they talked about geneology and when he left at “6:30-ish” Richard Oland was sitting at his desk. He says he stopped at the Renforth Wharf to see if his kids were swimming there and also describes going home and changing.
Constable Stephen Davidson asking Dennis to detail his route leaving Richard Oland’s office the first time. Dennis saying that it’s not 100-percent clear to him, and eventually telling Davidson, “you have me intimidated now, so I’m getting a mental block.”
Speaking about his father’s personality, Dennis says Richard Oland was “a by-product of his generation, men of that era didn’t really have those, I guess, heart-to-heart conversations.” He says Bob McFadden was the guy who was closest to his father describing him as both a right-hand man and a friend.
Cst Stephen Davidson on the witness stand as the video is played.
Reporter Laura Lyall is covering the trial and is live-tweeting from the courtroom to her account, the CHSJ News Twitter account and the Wave News Twitter account.
