Greg Fertuck Murder Trial Sees Post-Arrest Interview With RCMP: ‘I Made The Story Up’ | The Canadian News

When police arrested Greg Fertuck at the end of a Mr. Big sting, he told an RCMP investigator that he lied about Sheree Fertuck’s murder because he wanted to make a good impression on his boss and keep his job.

On Friday, a murder trial in Saskatoon saw a video of Greg Fertuck’s forewarned interview with Sgt. Charles Lerat. Four days earlier, the defendant, now 68, told an undercover officer posing as a crime boss that he had shot and killed his estranged wife in a gravel pit east of Kenaston, Sask. Which is 85 miles south of Saskatoon.

Sheree was last seen leaving her family’s pen to haul gravel on the afternoon of December 7, 2015.

In court, Lerat played part of an undercover video of Greg Fertuck, which shows him telling the false crime boss what happened. The employer told Fertuck that he would help him.

“I didn’t want to get fired so I made up the story,” Greg Fertuck said in the video. “It was a bitch. I just said it to impress him. “

During his forewarned interview, Greg Fertuck said he wanted to keep his job because he liked his co-workers and transporting vehicles was easy.

“It was something to do to get out of the house,” he said.

During four hours of questioning, Greg Fertuck was adamant that he never killed Sheree and that he still loved her. He also rejected a suggestion that investigators thought was financially motivated to kill.

Lerat showed the defendant a .22 caliber rifle magazine that Greg Fertuck had given to undercover officers he thought were his co-workers.

Greg Fertuck told Lerat that he never gave the magazine to the men and that they had to take it from him.

“I couldn’t believe they took that because I really trusted those guys,” Greg Fertuck said on the recording. “I thought those guys were friends of mine.”

During the interview, Lerat told Greg Fertuck for the first time that police found two bullet casings in the gravel pit. He did not reveal the type of shells found, but asked Fertuck if he possessed a .38 caliber weapon.

“I’ve never owned a .38 caliber gun in my entire life,” Greg Fertuck replied.

On the witness stand, the investigator said he asked for a .38 caliber weapon to give the defendant the confidence to say he had a .22 caliber rifle, the type of weapon that actually matched the shell casings found in the hole.

Lerat also testified that he asked many questions to test Greg Fertuck’s memory. The defendant said he had experienced memory problems after slipping and hitting his head on January 1, 2019.

“Mr. Fertuck had selective memory at some points,” Lerat said during questioning of defense attorney Morris Bodnar.

Bodnar asked if Lerat had sought medical reports on the subject of his interview, and the officer said he could only rely on his observations and experience.

The defense position throughout the trial has been that during a nearly year-long operation on Mr. Big, the RCMP manipulated a lying alcoholic with a head injury into admitting a crime he did not commit.

Judge Richard Danyliuk has yet to rule on whether Greg Fertuck’s multiple statements to police are admissible in the solo trial. A series of voir dire proceedings have been played out within a larger admissibility hearing for all of the Crown evidence.

Mr. Big Sting is a controversial practice in Canada. Several police witnesses in this trial have testified that the sole objective is to find the truth, and some operations have exonerated suspects.

However, opponents have argued that the tactic is manipulative and targets suspects for the sole purpose of producing a confession, sometimes leading to some false confessions.