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Intruder theory heard on 9-1-1 tape

BY BRENT MUDRY
Contributing Writer

“AN intruder, I guess.”

That is what a B.C.
Supreme Court jury heard
Gerald O’Grady tell a 9-I-I
operator when he reported
his wife’s murder in their
West Vancouver apartment
four years ago.

Crown prosecutor Hank
Reiner played the tape at the
opening of O’Grady’s sec-
ond-degree murder trial
Tuesday,

“Send an ambulance right-

away, please,’ O'Grady
calmly told the emergency
services operator at 8:29

p.m. on May 18, 1992.

“What is the problem?”
the 9-{-1 operator asked,

“My wife: she's been
murdered, | think,” O'Grady
responded. .

The couple were both in
their early 60s.

The operator then asked
what happened or who was
involved.

O'Grady answered with
subdued emotion. “I don't
know, she may not be dead.
Fm trying to give her mouth
to mouth,” the husband
replied. “An intruder, I
guess,” he added.

Atiending police and
paramedics found O'Grady
crouched down in the

kitchen, cradling his wife of
more than 30 years. Both
were covered in blood. A pair
of tin snips and a knife
sharpening steel lay nearby,
both bloody as well.

“The case before you is
based on circumstantial evi-
dence.” assistant Crown
prosecutor Marjorie
Munkley told the jury.

She noted that the Crown
expects to call 25 to 30 wit-
nesses during the three-week
trial.

Const, Lanee Marchand,
who had joined the West
Vancouver Police
Department six months earli-
er as a 23-year-old rookie,
recalfed the situation as he

acrived first on the scene.

“Eheard nothing from that
suite.” he recalled. “The
entrance door was ajar about
two and a half to three inch-
es,” the officer added.

Inside. a horror scene
awaited, “The floor of the
entire kitchen was covered in
blood ... he was holding the
wonnin’s head and the upper
part of her body in his lap,”
Marchand told Mr. Justice
Raymond Paris and the jury.
“He was holding a plastic
bag and a rag to the back of
her head.”.

“As [first entered the
kitchen [ noticed a file or
knife sharpener,’ Marchand
testified,

He told the jury he also
saw a dark object, a pair of
tin snips, under the victim's

$1.1m held in budget reserve -

From page 1

Lonsdale elementary, Jament-
ed the reduction of English-
as-a- -second- -language instruc-
tion in his school. He also
criticized the district’s push to
maximize class sizes, adding
that he already works 10 to 12
hours a day. If more students
are added, . students . will
receive less of his time.

With the cancellation of
the International
Baccalaureate program, the
best and brightest North
Vancouver students wil} be
lost to other districts, said
Carson Graham teacher
Darry: Rustemeyer. =

He reiterated concerns
’ surrounding bourd plans to
limit students (o eight courses
each, which will affect their
ability to take electives such
as music.

The eight-coufse plan, he
said, “will limit the well-
roundedness we want to pro-
mote in students.” .. -

The reduction. in ESL,
pegged at 2.5 teachers acress
the district in Smith's report,
will lead to lower Jiteracy,
more. dropouts, and a greater
‘burden’ on: social services,
said Rustemeyer.

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Sue Altman, a special-
needs resource teacher, said
that in 199), there was one
resource teacher for every 15
special-needs students.

Next year, she projects a
figure of one resource teacher
to 44 students. Increasing

class sizes also means less

chance of integration for spe-
cial-needs students, she said.

But Smith said longer term
prospects are brightening for
the school district.

The. 1996-97 fiscal year
marks. the end of an early
retirement plan’ for staff,

‘which will free up $1 million

in the 1997-98 fiscal vear.

Victoria has allowed the
district to move its $4.9 mil-
lion operating deficit to the
capital account and keep the
cash from the sale of district
assets. That means the district
does not have to make pay-
ments on the operating deficit
next year.

At the same time, howev-
er, Smith said the budget does
not move the district forward
in improving its aging facili-
ties.

In a departure from previ-
ous budgets, Smith held back
$1.1. million as a reserve for

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He called the move essen-
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hip area.

“She was lying straight
out, with her arms out-
stretched by her side ... she
was facing the ceiling,” the
officer said.

Reiner asked if there were
any signs of life apparent.

“None that J could see,”
the officer said.

In the centre of the court-
room, O'Grady sat motion-
less in the prisoner’s booth.
His back did not flinch when
the officer held up the sharp-

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ening steel in a plastic bag,
as it was entered as an exhib-
it.

Marchand said he first
arrived at the crime scene at
8:40 p.m. He returned three
hours later, while other offi-
cers conducted an initial sur-
face search,

“I saw what appeared to
be a blood smear on the out-
side of the door; it was not on
the officer: testified.

The trial continues.

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