(♪♪)
>> Bob: On this edition of the
"Fifth Estate"...
>> In New Brunswick, it was the
trial with everything, a
confluence of celebrity, money,
and murder...
>> They are very prominent, very
well known, and very powerful.
>> Bob: A beer company dynasty,
a father bludgeoned to death.
>> ... at the end of this
investigation, we'll find that
the perpetrator and the victim
knew each other.
>> Bob: Accused of the brutal
killing, the victim's only son.
>> He brought this on.
Pushed you, pushed you, pushed
you, squeezed you, rubbed your
face in the fact that he
controls it all.
>> I thought it was
preposterous, that Dennis Oland
that I know is simply just not
capable of such a horrific act.
>> Bob: In a small city, would
connections and influence trump
Justice?
>> There seemed to be an
attitude in the city that you
know, he's going to walk away.
>> Bob: And how did the August
Oland family saga become a
whodunit?
>> The man had his life
brutally takeN from him, and
the killer is still at large.
For all we know, nobody is
looking for him.
>> Bob: I'm Bob McKeown in
Saint John, New Brunswick.
This is the "Fifth Estate."
(♪♪)
>> Bob: It was as select a
gathering as you're ever likely
to find in Atlantic Canada.
The rich, the politically
powerful, the social elite,
with names like Irving, McCain,
and Oland.
Brought together outside Saint
John, New Brunswick on a summer
day in 2011 by tragedy, the
death-- in fact the murder-- of
one of their own, Maritime
royalty with a fortune built on
beer, 69-year-old Richard Oland
known to his friends as Dick.
>> There are three really
powerful-- all powerful--
families in New Brunswick-- the
Irvings, the McCains, and the
Olands.
>> Bob: Author and journalist
Stephen Kimber says the Olands
like the others have been
ubiquious throughout Maritime
history to this day.
>> They permeate every aspect
of society, political,
business, philanthropic.
I mean whatever you want to
say, they are part of that
society and have been for
generations.
>> Bob: The Dick Oland his
peers came to remember was not
only the successful
businessman, he was also a
philanthropist who hob-nobbed
with Prime Ministers and with
real royalty.
He could well afford an
affluent lifestyle,
enthusiastic skier, avid
fisherman, world-class sailor
whose pride and joy was a new
$850,000 racing yacht.
A member of the Order of Canada
as a community leader.
>> Now the President of the
Canada Games, Richard Oland.
>> Bob: Among his many local
projects shepherding the Canada
Games to Saint John.
>> We have made these games, the
best Canada games ever!
>> Bob: And the legacy of
sports facilities that endures
to this day.
>> You know, from a business
perspective, Dick was
brilliant.
You could tell it from a
financial aspect.
Numbers really spoke to him.
>> Bob: When businessman Dale
Knox joined the Canada games
foundation, he was exposed to
Dick Oland's forceful
personality at his first board
meeting.
>> And I had a question, and it
was a question around some of
the financial stuff, and Dick
didn't like my question.
And it was basically, you know,
you talk when I tell you that
you can talk, and of course I
didn't take that very kindly,
and after the meeting, he comes
over and says you are going to
be a great addition to this
board, puts his arm around my
shoulder, and says we're going
to do great things, and I
walked out, and I thought,
okay.
What just happened?
>> Bob: And Dick Oland also
seemed to have love-hate
relationship with the family
business-- brewing beer.
The Oland brewery was founded
in the mid-19th century, the
same year as Canada-- started
by matriarch Susannah Oland, an
entrepreneur and businesswoman
far ahead of her time.
Several decades later, her
descendants launched the iconic
Moosehead Beer brand.
>> Cheers.
>> Bob: It's been run by
generations of Olands ever
since.
>> It is very family-- like we
work together for one cause,
and that's to make great beer.
>> Bob: But in 1981, a
falling-out in the family, when
Dick Oland's father picked his
older brother to take control
of the company-- a public
humiliation according to writer
Stephen Kimber.
>> His father was a bit
condescending even in public to
Richard and said that he wasn't
ready, he wasn't advanced
enough to take on this job, and
if you think about all the
things that have happened
since, that's the moment I
would go back to and say that's
when many things began to
happen.
>> Bob: And just as Dick
couldn't seem to please his
father, he could be especially
hard on his son, Dennis, a
teenager when his dad lost
control of the family business.
>> His relationships with his
children changed after he left
Moosehead.
He was much more difficult to
deal with, and it seemed to
particularly affect the son
Dennis.
>> Bob: Politely put, Dick
Oland was not an easy man,
described by one of his
daughters as someone who could
"make an enemy of anyone."
A business associate said "to
know him is to dislike him."
But there was something else at
play between Dick Oland and his
adult children.
He was having an extramarital
relationship with a local real
estate agent, Diana Sedlacek.
It had gone on for eight years,
but he'd apparently never told
the truth to Connie, his wife
of almost five decades; for
their kids, it was a very
sensitive subject.
But here in Saint John, so much
more of the Oland's family
affairs would soon be on public
display because as you're about
to see, what happened next
would embroil, intrigue, and
shock the city, the province,
and the Maritimes for years.
And it would all start coming
to light at number 52 Canterbury
Street at the office of Dick
Oland's far end investment
corporation.
It was the morning of July 7,
2011.
As usual, Oland's assistant
arrived for work before 9:00
a.m.
Unusually she found the front
door unlocked.
When she took the stairs to his
second-floor office, nothing
would ever be as usual again.
>> At the top of the
stairs, there is another door
that is also always kept
locked, but it seems to be open
suddenly.
So she is puzzled by this.
She enters, and she is greeted
by what is a horrific sight.
>> Bob: Immediately the police
descended on Canterbury Street.
In the heart of sedate Saint
John, it was obvious something
was terribly wrong at Dick
Oland's office.
Larry Cain is a family friend
who works nearby.
>> I think the police presence
down infront of the office
became very substantial,
and news started
to leak out that Dick had been
murdered, and I have to tell
you, I was in complete shock.
It just doesn't happen in this
community.
>> Bob: But the tale told by
the crime scene photos is so
much worse than they could
imagine.
>> Preliminary results of the
autopsy coupled with the
evidence at the scene clearly
indicate that Richard Oland was
a victim of foul play,
homicide.
>> Bob: Dick Oland had been
bludgeoned to death with a
hammer-like object, a vicious
attack inflicting more than 40
wounds in his neck, hands, and
head, including 14 skull
fractures.
The body lay next to his desk
surrounded by blood and brain
tissue.
>> I was frankly stunned as I'm
sure was everyone's first
reaction.
>> Bob: Oland neighbour and
friend Kelly Patterson says the
response everywhere was
disbelief.
>> Did this make sense?
Was it plausible that someone
would want to murder him?
>> I couldn't imagine why.
I can't imagine why he would be
an obvious person.
If someone in Saint John is
going to be murdered, he would
be the last person I would
think of.
>> Bob: But imagine it or not,
Dick Oland was dead.
Business leader, community
benefactor, family icon, killed
in the most brutal way.
Now only two questions
mattered: Who did it?
And why?
The day the body was found,
Oland family members came to
police headquarters to give
statements to investigators.
>> You can just have a seat
right there.
>> Great.
>> Bob: His only son, Dennis
arrives about 6:00 p.m.
to speak to constable Stephen
Davidson.
>> Been a long day, HUH...
>> Oh, yeah.
>> All right.
I know we met before, but I'm
constable Davidson.
>> Bob: He's been told just
hours before that his father
had died suddenly, but
apparently given few other
details.
From the beginning, Dennis
seems relaxed, even talkative.
>> Yeah.
Well the biggest thing on my
mind is what happened.
>> MM-MM.
>> It's pretty clear in my head
that he didn't have a heart
attack and die.
Something has happened to him.
>> Bob: But Dennis doesn't
directly ask how his dad died.
Instead offering a theory.
>> You know, is this one of
those crack-head type things or
whatever where someone goes in
and you know does that kind of
thing or, you know, like sort
of being in the wrong place at
the wrong time.
>> MMM, do you have anybody in
mind?
That would come to mind to you?
As being involved in this...
>> Bob: And he's got another
suggestion about a possible
suspect.
His father's mistress, Diana
Sedlacek.
>> The only person that comes to
mind is this supposed
girlfriend because she really
seems to be a whack job, like
they call her the dragon lady,
you know, she's this hostile,
somebody who you think could be
that fatal attraction-type
person, um, but that's just-- I
don't know the woman so that's
just me saying stuff that I
hear.
>> Bob: What Dennis Oland
didn't know yet, but would soon
find out, is that before he
left this police interview
room, he would be the prime
suspect.
>> Bob: When we come back...
>> The search for the killer...
>> Neighbours say it is the
home of Dennis Oland, the son
of prominent businessman
Richard Oland.
>> Bob: And the search for the
motive.
>> He brought this on.
Pushed you, pushed you, pushed
you, squeezed you, rubbed your
face in the fact that he
controls it all.
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
>> Bob: Businessman Richard
Oland, known to friends as Dick
was found bludgeoned in his
office in Saint John, New
Brunswick in July 2011.
A pillar of one of the
Maritimes' family dynasties.
His death was ruled homicide.
>> I would suggest to you that
at the end of this
investigation, we'll find that
the perpetrator and the victim
knew each other.
>> Bob: The police named no
suspects, but it was soon clear
who they had in mind.
>> I'm standing here at gondola
point road in Rothesay where
Saint John police are executing
a search warrant.
Neighbours says it the home of
Dennis Oland the son of
prominent businessman Richard
Oland who was found dead in his
Saint John office last Thursday.
>> Bob: So Dennis Oland was
squarely in their sights, but
even as police scoured his
house for hours, they wouldn't
confirm what they were
searching for or even a
connection to the killing.
>> I can't say how long they're
going to be here.
They'll be here until they're
done basically.
>> Bob: From the Tony suburb of
Rothesay, the search expanded
to another enclave unaccustomed
to an armed police presence.
The yacht club where Dennis'
wife Lisa moored her boat and
where the family had been
members for years.
It all adds up to an
unthinkable double tragedy for
the Olands according to
neighbour and friend Kelly
Patterson.
>> It was such a brutal vicious
crime, to somehow get your head
around that, while you are
grieving the loss, um, I think
that is a pretty tall order,
and then right on the heels of
that, you realize that one of
your own is, you know, in the
police's sights.
I think that's to me one of the
real tragedies of this is that
the family I don't think ever
really had an opportunity to
properly grieve the loss of
their father or husband,
grandfather.
>> Bob: Increasingly the Saint
John police would focus on the
tension between Dennis Oland,
then in his mid-40s and his
father Dick.
>> I first met Dennis in high
school.
>> Bob: A classmate and friend
of Dennis, Dale Knox
acknowledges relations between
the two deteriorated over the
years.
>> Yeah.
You know, I understand that.
I think back to my own father
who has been gone for a lot of
years now, but, yeah, sometimes
those relationships are tough.
>> Bob: It may have been tough
growing up in the shadow of a
father like Dick Oland.
But friends say Dennis was
trying to be his own man.
>> Dennis was not one
of those kids that I think was
handed everything to him.
>> Bob: Larry Cain became a
close pal.
Boating with Dennis, taking
trips with their children.
He says having to cope with a
difficult dad built Dennis'
character.
>> He was expected to work
hard, whether it was in the
family business or when he
started a career as a
stockbroker, and, um, so Dennis
worked for everything that he
earned, and I think he learned
that from his dad.
>> Bob: Never part of
Moosehead's inner sanctum
Dennis moved from New Brunswick
to Toronto after university and
began a career in finance.
Back in Saint John, he became a
financial advisor with a major
bank.
His father one of his clients.
Dennis says where Dick's money
was concerned, he was really
just an order-taker.
According to Dale Knox, Dick
Oland may have thought he was
helping his son, his version of
tough love.
>> When you have conversations
with your kids that sometimes
aren't comfortable, they think
you're being mean or brutish
maybe, and of course from the
father's perspective, you think,
no, I'm just giving you a life
lesson that you should learn
because it's going to help you
in future years.
>> Bob: But the relationship
between this father and son
apparently was far beyond
repair.
When Dennis sits down with
police Constable Stephen
Davidson the day after Dick was
murdered, the discussion soon
turns to the bad blood between
them.
>> When we look at you, you
just grew up in a family of
really high expectations.
>> Yes.
>> Bob: Unrealistic
expectations he says, even at
holiday gatherings.
>> Everything is regimented.
>> Yes.
>> Everything has to be perfect.
Everything gets put down and
you are a waiter the whole
time.
And you are on your toes and if
something messes up, then you
know just it's those intense
situations which were, where
everything has to be perfect
when you can sort of, you know,
you know, it wouldn't go well.
>> Bob: And Dennis unburdens
himself with an account of
one especially unpleasant
Christmas.
>> I certainly will remember a
Christmas dinner -- not last
year, it might have been two
years ago where he blew a
gasket over something simple.
You know, when you have a
Christmas cake and pour rum
over it, hot rum over it, and
you lit it flame.
Okay.
Well it was my job to do that,
and it flamed for like 30
seconds and flamed out.
So by the time I got it from
the kitchen into the dining
room it flamed out.
Well there was a big fight over
that.
Yeah, it was, you know, not
physical but I mean it was
ugly.
I might have left.
>> Bob: But as time passes,
Dennis stops responding.
>> You and I have to talk here
and have this conversation,
okay.
I need to know the reasons
why-- I want you to share that
with me.
>> Bob: His posture no longer
relaxed but defensive.
>> Can you tell me what your
reason is, Dennis.
>> Bob: And though Constable
Davidson keeps asking, Oland
doesn't answer.
After almost three hours,
Davidson steps out of the
interview room, and Constable
Keith copeland comes in.
Perhaps hoping a change in
style might persuade Dennis
Oland to open up again.
>> I've been watching this
interview since it started.
>> Bob: Where Davidson was
low-key, even deferent, right
away Dopeland is
in Dennis Oland's face.
>> You didn't plan this,
Dennis. He brought this on.
Pushed you, pushed you, pushed
you, squeezed you, rubbed your
face in the fact that he
controls it all.
Disrespected you.
Disrespected your mother.
>> Bob: The police officer
insists that Dennis' money
troubles and his father's
affair had pushed him over the
edge.
>> And the truth is, your
father was a mean son of a
bitch.
He controlled every penny that
walked through that house.
He disrespected your mother.
Didn't give her money.
Argued with her about where--
how much she spent on groceries
and made you pay your own way
to go away with him.
Did Dennis finally get sick and
tired of being brault-beaten
and abused?
>> Bob: Copeland keeps
cajoling, berating, anything to
insinuate himself into Oland's
confidence.
>> This was about ending the
tyranny.
I have had enough of this.
You're not treating me like
this anymore or maybe there was
no conscious thought.
Maybe it was just like AHHH!
Was it just a moment --
>> Bob: But Dennis Oland has
spoken to his lawyer.
Once talkative he now chooses
to be remain silent.
>> I was told that I should
call somebody so I did.
>> Yup, that's right.
And you've exercised your rights
to a lawyer.
>> The person who I called
said, you know, don't talk
anymore.
>> Uh-huh.
Please try and understand...
>> Bob: Undaunted Copeland
keeps badgering him for another
hour and 15 minutes.
>> This is your opportunity,
Dennis.
>> Bob: At 11:00 p.m., after
five hours of interrogation,
there is a final question.
>> Will you take advantage of
that opportunity?
Will you tell me what happened?
Yes or no?
>> No, we're done.
>> Bob: The police are clearly
convinced they've got their
man, but without a confession,
they don't have enough to hold
him.
When they leave the room,
Dennis Oland walks out a free
man.
A free man perhaps, but
certainly not above suspicion.
Eventually in Saint John, a
city with a population of about
130,000, it seems everyone knew
who was number 1 on the police
most-wanted list.
Yet for 28 months after Dick
Oland's body was found, the
police publicly named no
suspect and laid no charges.
The Saint John police held a
news conference to assure the
public they hadn't forgotten
about the case.
>> We're being methodical.
Our folks are being very
methodical, and they're
analyzing the information.
We do not want to make a
mistake.
>> Bob: All the while
journalist Stephen Kimber says
the identity of their suspect
was an open secret.
>> They thought that he knew
the person who murdered him,
but they wouldn't say it was
Dennis Oland.
So there was a lot of
speculation, but at the same
time, they executed search
warrants at his house, at the
yacht club.
It was hard for anybody not to
realize that that's who was
being investigated and that's
who was the suspect.
>> Bob: But according to friend
Larry Cain, it was business as
usual for Dennis Oland.
>> Dennis was out in the
community.
He didn't hide.
Wouldn't be unusual to run into
him in the grocery store at the
market or in a restaurant
, you know, because I
think Dennis had absolute faith
and confidence in the Justice
system, as did his entire
family.
>> Bob: And for Dennis Oland,
business might have been better
than ever.
After the murder, he was named
coexecutor of his father's
estate and a trustee for his
mother, paid a total of
$150,000.
He also became a director of
his father's three companies
and president of the main one.
There is no indication of his
compensation for those.
Dick Oland was killed in Saint
John on July 6, 2011.
His son Dennis interrogated the
following day, but it wasn't
until almost two-and-a-half
years later, November 2013 that
the Saint John police called
this news conference.
>> On Tuesday, November 12,
2013, members from the Saint
John police force arrested
Dennis Oland, the son of Richard
Oland and charged him with
second-degree murder.
>> Bob: After the break, the
tale of the security tape.
Surveillance video of Dennis
Oland the day his father was
murdered.
Why was Oland's silver car
caught driving past his dad's
office three times in seven
minutes that evening?
Why did he drive the wrong way
up a one-way street?
Why did he go in and out of
Dick Oland's office three times
not long before the murder?
When we return...
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
>> Bob: Some called it the New
Brunswick's O.J. Simpson case.
A combination of fame, money,
and murder centred around the
killing of one of the
province's most powerful
people, Richard Oland.
But for some in Saint John,
there was the belief that
family reputation and
connections might trump
justice.
>> It is a very high-profile
family, high-profile case.
There was a lot of pretrial
publicity.
>> Bob: CBC reporter Bobbi-Jean
MacKinnon had covered the case
for four years by the time it
got to trial which many were
convinced they'd never see.
>> I think there is a
perception among a big group of
the population that feel that,
you know, money talks.
>> Bob: And authorities worried
they might not find enough
impartial jurors to prosecute
Dennis Oland for killing his
father in a place where it
seems everyone knew the family
name and had an opinion about
the case.
It was the largest jury pool
ever in New Brunswick.
Bigger even than such high
profile trials as Robert
Pickton in British Columbia,
Paul Bernardo in Ontario or
Luka Magnotta in Quebec.
In all 5,000 people were
summoned for jury selection.
So many came.
They didn't hold it at the
court house.
But here at the Saint John
hockey rink.
And though Dennis Oland was
accused of brutally killing a
family member, other Olands
came to his defence.
Writer Stephen Kimber.
>> I think that other members
of the family felt that Richard
was being very hard on Dennis
and were much more sympathetic
toward him, and you see that
playing out after the murder
when you have to ask yourself
after the murder and Dennis is
charged, who does the family
rally around?
Is it the dead father or is it
the accused son?
And to a person, it was the
accused son.
>> Bob: Finally in the middle
of September 2015, over four
years after the murder, they
came together for the trial.
Dennis Oland and his wife Lisa,
Connie Oland, mother of the
defendant and wife of the
victim, the prosecution, the
defence, the family members,
and supporters who came to
court each day.
Kelly Patterson was one of
them.
>> They're private people being
forced to endure a public
trial, and having your lives
laid bare for the public to
pick over, I think, would be
uncomfortable for most people
to have strangers talking in
the coffee shops and on the
street corners about the
private details of your life,
but they showed up at court
every single day with their
heads held high to stand by
Dennis and endure this, knowing
what was coming,
but they did it.
>> Reporter: Today we learned
just how Richard Oland died.
He suffered 46 blows to his
body, six of them defensive
wounds to his hands, the other
40, sharp and blunt injures to
his head and neck.
>> Bob: As the trial opened,
the prosecution would reveal
the shocking details.
>> Reporter: His body was
discovered face down in a pool
of blood...
>> Bob: And a case against
Dennis Oland built around four
main points of evidence.
First and foremost the visit
Oland made to his father's
office at number 52 Canterbury
Street in downtown Saint John
on the evening of July 6, 2011.
A typical day, he said, until
that visit.
It was after 5:00 p.m.
when Dennis left his own office
for his dad's.
But the shot from this security
camera shows he didn't go there
directly.
Instead it captures this image
of his silver Volkswagen
circling the block before
finally stopping on Canterbury
street in his father's parking
lot.
Dennis says he came to deliver
research about Oland family
history, material he carried in
a red grocery bag, but then
apparently, the plan changed.
>> And I went up the stairs,
and I had my bag of stuff, and
I forgot my stuff-- well some
of my stuff, so I left and...
>> Bob: But what he told the
police about what happened was
convoluted and confusing.
He says after climbing to the
second floor, realizing he'd
forgotten something, he
retraced his steps, returned to
his car, and drove away, but he
drove back to the Canterbury
Street.
This time, he parked diagonally
across from his father's
office, as seen here in the
upper right-hand corner.
It was 5:25 p.m.
He then crossed the street to
number 52 and climbed the
stairs to the second floor,
once again, this time Dennis
Oland says he stayed about 45
minutes.
After he left, he is seen on
the security footage at 6:12
p.m., still carrying the red
bag.
But it was only at the trial,
four years later, that Dennis
Oland admitted to a third visit
that evening.
After driving up Canterbury,
turning the wrong way on a
one-way street and parking, he
then walked back to his
father's office for that third
time.
He left a few minutes later,
and says only his father
remained in the office.
There is no evidence Dick
Oland's computer or cellphone
were used after that time.
>> I might have gone...
>> Bob: So Dennis is the last
person known to see his father
alive, and his muddled
description of his comings and
goings during that visit
triggered the suspicion of the
police.
Watch here as the investigator
leaves the room and Oland is
left muttering to himself about
what happened.
>> Bob: The question wasn't
only where he went on the day
of the murder, but also what he
wore.
>> And what were you wearing
because I just want to make
sure...
>> Bob: Dennis Oland's choice
of sport jacket became a focal
point for the police.
>> Um, these pants, these
shoes, a dress shirt, and a
navy blazer.
>> You were wearing those
pants, those shoes...
>> Those shoes, a dress shirt,
not this, a collared dress
shirt and a navy blazer.
>> And a navy blazer.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Bob: The problem, police
said, is that security cameras
on the day his father was
killed showed Dennis Oland
wearing not a navy blazer but a
brown sport jacket which was
sent to be dry-cleaned the very
next day.
Forensic analysis would find
three small bloodstains
containing D.N.A.
that matched the profile of
Dick Oland.
The victim's blood would be
another key to the prosecution
case.
And so would the victim's
cellphone.
When Dick Oland's body was
found, it appeared not to be a
robbery because he still had
his valuables, wallet, Rolex
watch, keys to the BMW, all
that was missing was his
cellphone.
So where was it?
According to Dennis Oland,
after that visit to his father
on July 6th, he went to this
wharf near his home in the
suburb of Rothesay hoping to
find his children who might be
swimming there, he says.
Each evening Dick Oland spoke
by cellphone to his long-time
mistress Diana Sedlacek.
She left this message the day
before.
>> Bob: On July 6, she texted
him at about the same time.
6:44 p.m.
The text pinged off a cell
tower, not in downtown Saint
John near Dick's office, but in
Rothesay where Dennis claims he
was looking for his kids.
That tower is less than a
kilometre away from the wharf
with only water in between.
At trial, an expert testified
it would be extremely unlikely
if Dick Oland's cellphone
weren't in that vicinity at
that time.
In other words, where Dennis
Oland says he was.
The phone was never found.
There is no doubt the
relationship between Dennis
Oland and his father was a
difficult one, but prosecutors
went even farther, insisting
the money issues between them
were among the motives for
murder.
>> They described him as a man
who was on the edge
financially.
That he owed his father more
than half a million dollars.
That his credit card and line
of credit were maxed out.
>> He basically bank rolled my
whole...
>> Bob: Yet speaking to the
police, Dennis claims there is
good news in the difficulties
with his dad.
The loan Dick gave him to save
his house during a costly
divorce.
>> You know, at the end of the
day, we were talking about, you
know, a loan of 5 or 600,000.
It was a lot of money, and I
was grateful for it.
>> Bob: So Dennis Oland
admitted long-standing problems
with his father, but said money
wasn't among them.
Though in fact his finances
appeared deeply troubled.
Forensic accounting showed in
addition to the more than half
million borrowed from his
father, he owed almost 164,000
on his line of credit.
Over 31,000 on his credit card,
and he'd taken a 16,000 advance
on his salary.
What's more, he'd recently
bounced a mortgage payment to
his dad.
Friends say it's not a side of
Dennis they knew.
Were you aware that there were
financial problems?
>> No, not particularly.
Dennis was employed as a
financial advisor and, you
know, when you're in that
business, your earnings
fluctuate depending on the
state of the market and all
kind of other economic
conditions.
You know, I think at the end of
the day, that, you know, Dennis
had some debt, but he was
managing.
>> Bob: But in court, the
prosecution revolved around
Dennis' financial motive for
murder.
>> He was on the edge and, you
know, people can do things you
wouldn't expect them to do when
they're, when they have no
other options, nowhere else to
turn.
>> Bob: The defence would tell
a different story.
On July 6, 2011, security
cameras capture the rest of
Dennis Oland' evening.
Now in shorts and sandals at
the drugstore with his wife, at
the market to buy samosas, then
late-night run to the Irving
gas station for milk.
Are they the actions of a
guilty man?
Or of an innocent one going
about every day life?
When we come back.
(♪♪)
>> He went public places after
he left his father's office,
and there's no blood spatter on
his shoes, on his pants, on his
shirt, on anything, on his car,
nothing.
(♪♪)
(♪♪)
>> Bob: It was one of the
longest trials ever in New
Brunswick.
Prosecutors called over 40
witnesses arguing Dennis Oland
had a history of bitter
disputes with his father that
ended in murder.
The defence had just three
witnesses, including Dennis
Oland himself.
He denied there was an argument
about his finances that day or
that he played any role in Dick
Oland's death.
Well-known criminal lawyer Alan
Gold was brought from Toronto
by the Olands to defend Dennis,
alongside veteran local lawyer
Garry Miller.
They were convinced there was
reasonable doubt about the
largely circumstantial
prosecution case.
For example, the central issue
of the three blood drops on
Dennis Oland' brown jacket.
The defence asked, in such a
gruesome crime, why wasn't
there much more blood?
>> He went to public places
after he left his father's
office, and there's no blood
spatter on his shoes, on his
pants, on his shirt, on
anything, on his car.
Nothing.
>> Bob: Christopher Hicks is a
defence lawyer in Toronto who
has closely followed the Oland
case.
>> And you could not commit
this terrible crime without
getting blood on yourself.
The experts said the same
thing, and it just stands to
common sense to 45 bludgeon
and stab wounds.
>> Bob: The defence claimed
police did not properly control
the crime scene, and there were
other irregularities.
Incredibly for a couple of days
after the murder, officers used
Dick Oland's office bathroom
before testing it for
fingerprints, blood, or D.N.A.
And Dennis' brown jacket was
handled by an investigator
without gloves.
Then left in a bag, folded, for
about four months before
forensic testing.
There now are two official
inquiries into police conduct
in this case.
>> It was substandard behaviour
by forensic identification
officers, and that is very
important.
So it raises lots of questions
about integrity of the crime
scene and the integrity of the
evidence they presented.
>> Bob: The defence rested.
Confidence it had poked serious
holes in the prosecution's
version of events.
As the jury began
deliberations, to Oland family
and friends, it seemed just a
matter of time until a not
guilty verdict.
That's how Larry Cain and Kelly
Patterson felt.
>> I didn't hear one thing
through all of that that would
shake my belief in his
innocence.
There was nothing, and in fact,
what happened was the day after
day of the testimony, you
realized like this is really
ridiculous, of course he is
going to get off.
>> That's exactly how we all
felt, you know, we expected to
be at someone's home
celebrating that night.
>> Bob: The jury was out for a
day, then two, then three.
Lulling the family into false
hope, according to journalist
Stephen Kimber.
>> I certainly think that the
longer they stayed out, there
was an expectation that he was
going to be found not guilty.
>> Bob: He says the unknown
factor was the impact the Oland
family name might have on the
jury.
>> So I think this is, you
know, going back to the Olands
as one of the establishment
families, the elite families of
New Brunswick.
Yeah, you sort of ask yourself
what's going through the minds
of the jury when they're
looking at this.
You know, did he do it?
Did somebody else do it?
What was really going on here.
>> Bob: In all, the trial would
last over three months.
65 days in court from September
through December.
It was just a few days before
Christmas that the jury sent
word to the judge they'd
reached a verdict.
>> The jury's verdict, Dennis
Oland was found guilty of
second-degree murder.
>> It was almost like all of
the air gets sucked right out
of the room, and then it sort
of started to set in, and
somebody said what?
You know, and somebody else
said, oh, they got it wrong,
and he just started sobbing,
wailing really, uncontrollably,
and I mean I've covered a lot
of court, but it was unlike
anything I've ever heard
before.
It was, it almost sounded like
a wild wounded animal or
something, and one of his
lawyers Gary Miller went over
to try and console him, and he
just sort of clutched on to his
robes and was crying into his
robes, and he was saying oh,
no, oh, my God.
You know, my children, and his
wife was crying, and she ran
out of the courtroom, and um,
it was very emotional.
>> And later that day, we
gathered at Dennis' lawyer's
house.
You can start talking now.
Anyway, we gathered, and we
were in a fog.
Totally stunned.
I mean it was surreal.
You couldn't really grasp that
this had really happened.
>> We were in shock for several
days.
It took...
>> Still.
>> Still.
You know, you just can't
process it.
>> Bob: Saint John with its
division between the elite and
the others was now also a city
divided by the trial and the
verdict.
>> I really think that there is
a division out here.
I really do.
I think people are very divided
on this issue, and I think even
some people who believe he is
guilty do not feel that justice
has been served because they
didn't feel there was enough
presented during the trial
to convict him.
>> Bob: One month after Dennis
Oland was convicted, his
lawyers filed an appeal
claiming the guilty verdict
should be quashed, saying the
judge had made multiple errors
in instructing the jury, and
also by admitting certain
evidence.
Notably that brown jacket Oland
was wearing the day his father
was killed.
The appeal maintains the
warrant police used to search
Oland's home covered finding
the jacket, but not forensic
testing afterwards.
They say that should have
required a second warrant, and
therefore the D.N.A.
results tying Dennis' blazer to
Dick's blood are inadmissible.
>> That's what the unreasonable
search and seizure clause in
the charter is for, I think,
and that is a really good
example.
It allowed them to seize to,
enter the property and seize
the coat, but it didn't
authorize them to do anything
else with it.
>> Bob: Which sounds like a
loophole.
>> Well you know it sounds like
short-sightedness to me on part
of the prosecution.
>> Bob: When he was found
guilty, Dennis Oland's wife and
mother issued a statement
telling the people of Saint
John that they believe the real
killer remains at large.
But at his sentencing in
February of 2016, the judge saw
things differently, describing
Dick Oland as a very difficult
man who caused dysfunction in
his family, and Dennis as
someone who on July 6, 2011
simply exploded.
Dennis Oland was sentenced to
life in prison with no parole
for a minimum of 10 years,
refused bail while awaiting his
appeal.
It is all a sad chapter in the
Oland family saga.
What the judge called a
Shakespearean tragedy about a
father and son, each in the
end, it seems, responsible for
his own demise.
(♪♪)
