Warning: This story contains graphic details.
The spouse of the Nova Scotia mass shooter has described a terror-filled night in Portapique.
The public inquiry played videos of Lisa Banfield on Wednesday telling police about the trauma she experienced at their cottage on April 18th, 2020.
She was interviewed by RCMP at the scene in October 2020 where she provided a video re-enactment, going over the places she hid to get away from her common-law spouse when he launched his 13-hour rampage.
The 53-year-old reported Gabriel Wortman attacked her after a dispute during their 19th anniversary.
Banfield said he woke her up, pulled the covers off the bed, and assaulted her.
“I remember him looking at me and then he kicked me in the stomach. I went back on the frame of the bed, it’s like a wooden post, and I ended up on my back with him on the floor,” Banfield told investigators. “‘Get up,’” [he said] and I was like I’m trying to get up and it hurts so bad.”
Banfield reported he was also pouring gasoline around their cottage and warehouse. He placed her in handcuffs and threw her into his mock RCMP cruiser.
Photo of Portapique gunman’s replica RCMP cruiser taken from David McGrath’s cell on April 24, 2020. (SOURCE: Mass Casualty Commission)
But she managed to escape into the woods, burrowing her body near the trunk of a tree.
“It was a huge tree that was down, and it had a big hole in it that I buried part of my body in,” Banfield explained. “And then I stayed there. Like, I could see the moon and everything. I’m just trying to keep myself awake. I thought if I can just make it to the morning then I can crawl out and get help. While I’m there, I can hear shots, and I didn’t know what he was doing.”
Her medical records show she had fractures to her ribs and vertebrae. She was also found with scratches and abrasions on her hands, feet, and legs, and bruising to her upper back.
Lisa Banfield shows an investigator her hiding spot. (Screenshot from RCMP re-enactment video)
She was treated in hospital for five nights and was released on April 24, 2020.
Banfield says she experienced emotional and physical abuse at the hands of her partner throughout their relationship. She believed if she tried to leave Wortman he would hurt her family.
The gunman would go on to take the lives of 22 Nova Scotians on April 18th and 19th, 2020.
