Travis Vader testifies during sentencing hearing he was roughed up by guards

By Paige Parsons

Convicted killer Travis Vader hopes his sentence for two manslaughter convictions will take into account his claims that his religious, legal and physical constitutional rights were repeatedly violated by people in the criminal justice system.

Vader, 44, was found guilty Oct. 31 of manslaughter in the deaths of Lyle and Marie McCann. The conviction came after a lengthy police investigation and subsequent court process that followed the couple’s disappearance. Their bodies have not been found.

Vader, who did not testify during the murder trial, took the stand at his sentencing hearing Tuesday and told the court about what he described as a pattern of harassment inflicted on him by the criminal justice system dating from his arrest by the RCMP in July 2010 through an incident at the Edmonton Remand Centre as recently as November 2016.

Vader described a strip search at the Edson police station in 2010 that he says was recorded and observed by numerous officers, which he described as traumatizing.

"You’re standing there completely naked. It’s humiliating," Vader said.

He also said that the RCMP obstructed his attempt to speak with legal counsel, and that during an attempted private meeting with his lawyer, officers refused to leave the room and held recording devices, despite him asking them to leave 10 times. 

During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Ashley Finlayson played a lengthy audio recording of Vader’s arrest, strip search and discussions during which an officer assists Vader in flipping through a phone book to find a number for a lawyer. Later, Vader can be heard getting frustrated about the police’s suggestion he call a different lawyer when the one he wants can’t be reached. 

Vader also told the court about numerous problems once he became an inmate of the Edmonton Remand Centre. He said he was wrongfully placed in isolation – despite staff saying it was for his own protection because of his notoriety – and that he immediately became the target of harassment by both guards and other inmates. He said as soon brought in, the guards started calling out "Where’s the bodies Vader? Where’s the bodies?" That incited other inmates to do the same.

He said he spent six months in disciplinary unit 5B, known as "the hole", and that it was "horrendous"  and that the living conditions were "absolutely gross." He said he was kept locked up alone in his cell 23 hours a day.

While there, he was the target of multiple "sh.. bombs"– the practice of other inmates wrapping their feces in newspapers or shampoo bottles and squirting it into a cell through cracks in the door frame or under the door.

Vader also testified about instances of being beaten and roughed up by corrections officers.

In one case following an altercation between other inmates during which Vader was locked in his cell, he said he was pulled out to be searched and his arms roughly twisted.

"The pain was almost excruciating. I hear my wrist snap, and ask ‘is that enough?'" Vader said.

Vader was escorted to the bench to show Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Denny Thomas a bump on his right wrist as proof of the injury.

Vader arrived in court for the hearing with a bandaged right hand and wrist, with two fingers apparently in a splint. Vader’s lawyer clarified his current injury is different than the one the court heard testimony about.

During the testimony, Thomas noted that much of what Vader was saying is also claimed in a $1-million dollar lawsuit that Vader filed in 2014 against almost 60 people involved in the criminal justice system, including RCMP officers, Edmonton’s chief Crown prosecutor, the attorney general of Canada, correctional guards sheriffs, and an alleged police informant.

During cross-examination during, Vader revealed he converted to Islam in 2012 and continues to be a practising Muslim, and that at times correctional officers have obstructed his ability to observe a no-pork diet and fast during Ramadan.

Finlayson asked Vader about an instance when he had been observed breaking his fast, which Vader shrugged off.

"You do your best to fast," he said.

During a break in the proceedings, Lyle and Marie McCann’s son Bret said outside court that he feels no sympathy for Vader after hearing the testimony.

"He’s probably delusional enough to consider himself a victim," McCann said.

The sentencing hearing will continue Wednesday.