HALIFAX-
The Nova Scotia denture maker who killed 22 people in April 2020 had long been known as a violent man, especially among disadvantaged people who owed him money, newly released documents show.
In a summary of the evidence released Tuesday, the investigation into the mass shooting shared details about Gabriel Wortman’s practice of offering discount dentures to the poor and then targeting those who didn’t pay their bills on time.
A witness, identified only as BK, told investigative investigators that Wortman assaulted him in December 1999 when he failed to submit a monthly payment before the Christmas holidays.
“He grabbed me by the shoulders and threw me to the ground in the snow and sleet,” BK said. “He put his knee on my chest and ripped my dentures right out of my face…and he grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it into my mouth.”
BK did not report the attack to the police. “I didn’t want to deal with that man anymore,” he said. “He scared the hell out of me.”
The 60-page document, which focuses on Wortman’s violent behavior before he carried out the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history, references several similar incidents.
“There were times (patients) just couldn’t afford their teeth anymore or complained about their teeth,” said Renee Karsten, a denture fabricator who worked with Wortman from 2000 to 2007 in the Halifax area.
“I’ve seen him pull teeth out of his mouth and break them in half and smash them on the ground.”
The document includes descriptions of other violent encounters, including assaults outside the killer’s denture clinic in Dartmouth, NS.
The dentist was fined and ordered to receive anger management counseling after he pleaded guilty to assaulting a 15-year-old outside his clinic on Oct. 29, 2001. The victim said he was waiting for a bus when Wortman walked out. from your clinic. he smelled of alcohol and told her to get off his property.
“He grabbed me by my shirt and punched me in the back of the head,” the victim said in an interview with The Canadian Press on April 23, 2020.
The document also recounts violent assaults on a friend at a bar, a neighbor in a parking lot, and a contract worker at the dentist’s home in rural Portapique, NS. No assault charges were filed in those incidents.
The evidence summary released Tuesday reveals that the Nova Scotia Denturist Licensing Board received eight complaints from Wortman’s patients between 1998 and 2000. Some concerned allegations of shoddy workmanship and others complained of comments inappropriate sex.
In February 2007, Wortman entered into a settlement agreement confirming professional misconduct. He was reprimanded, suspended for a month and ordered to receive counseling.
Meanwhile, other colleagues came forward after the murders to complain about the sexual harassment they had faced from Wortman.
A dental sales representative, identified as OO, told the investigation that Wortman once tried to use his Jeep to run her off the road after she rebuffed his sexual advances in 1999. He asked for sexual favors.
Other witnesses have come forward to describe the killer as a creepy, possessive and short-tempered sexual predator.
One woman, identified as SS, told the RCMP that Wortman “carried on as if he was God’s gift to women”. Another said he pressured her into signing a deal soon after they started dating. “The contract was basically to possess me,” she told the commission.
As for Wortman’s domestic partner, Lisa Banfield, the document confirms what the investigation has already heard.
“Throughout their 19-year relationship, the perpetrator subjected Lisa Banfield to a pattern of coercive control and abuse that included verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, financial control, and physical violence,” it says.
Wortman’s first wife, who is not identified, said that during their seven years of marriage she remembered how he used to drink a lot, get angry and break things. She described several incidents in which he was physically violent with her, including a confrontation with her at her home in Dartmouth, where he pinned her to the ground.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 12, 2022.