The stepfather of a murdered Innisfail woman is back on the witness stand today.
Rick Bercier’s stepdaughter Victoria Shachtay was killed when she opened a Christmas gift disguising a pipe bomb. Shachtay’s financial advisor, Brian Malley, 57, is on trial for first-degree murder in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench.
Bercier was unable to recall specific details of what happened when probed by Crown prosecutor Anders Quist and defence counsel Bob Aloneissi in court today.
They relied on the police statement he provided on Nov. 25, 2011, the day the RCMP began their investigation into the death of Shachtay, 23.
The Crown alleges that Malley killed Shachtay to cut his financial losses. Shachtay had invested more than $500,000 with Malley after a 2007 settlement for a 2004 car crash that left her a quadriplegic. By 2011, the money was gone, court has been told.
Bercier had a tough time recalling specifically what Shachtay told him the morning of her death. Shachtay went to Bercier’s house that morning.
Reviewing the statement he gave to police, Bercier said Shachtay told him the mysterious package that showed up on her doorstep that morning was addressed to her.
Earlier in the trial, Shachtay’s caregiver Marlene Punongbayan testified that at first she could not recall if the gift was addressed to Shachtay. However, she woke up at 3 a.m. on Nov. 26, 2011, recalling that there was a note on the package indicating it was for Shachtay but misspelled as “Vicktoria.”
When Malley was arrested, Bercier was shocked that police suspected the financial advisor, a person they considered a family friend.
The trial continues before a jury in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench today.