Bomb squad officers testify at Amsel trial

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This article was published 06/11/2017 (2675 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

First, they shut off the gas line at the site of the explosion. Then, they looked for missing body parts.

As the attempted-murder trial continues for a man accused of mailing explosive packages, Winnipeg Police Service bomb squad officers recounted their duties in the aftermath of a blast that seriously injured lawyer Maria Mitousis in July 2015.

Rommel Vianzon, Marc Levesque and Cory Wiles testified Monday in front of provincial court Judge Tracey Lord about their involvement in the investigation that resulted in the arrest of Guido Amsel.

Amsel, 51, is charged with five counts of attempted murder and several explosives-related charges after three packages were mailed to his ex-wife and lawyers who worked on the couple’s divorce proceedings.

On July 3, 2015, after Mitousis lost her hand in an explosion at a River Avenue law office, bomb unit officers suited up in heavy protective gear and, as per the request of paramedics, went into the building to retrieve any salvageable body parts, Const. Vianzon testified.

“There was nothing we could identify,” he said.

They went in to the building a second time — and the parking lot — to check for any other explosives and clear the perimeter of the crime scene. A third time, they went in without protective suits to make sure they hadn’t missed anything while wearing the restrictive head gear. The checks had to be done before the building could be declared safe for any other police officers to enter, court heard.

Bomb unit members were in the process of checking out a “suspicious” car that was parked near the law office when “information came through the investigators that that vehicle wasn’t involved,” Levesque said. The vehicle belonged to Mitousis’s spouse and a box on the seat turned out to be full of pastries.

All three officers were cross-examined by defence lawyer Saheel Zaman about the precautions they took before they entered the building each time, including whether they tested their gear for explosive material before going in (they didn’t) and whether they wore gloves (they did).

Amsel’s defence team has repeatedly questioned police about the possibility of evidence contamination in this case.

The trio was the latest in a lineup of WPS and RCMP bomb unit officers who have testified since Amsel’s trial began hearing from witnesses in late October. Later this week, Judge Lord is set to hear from civilian witnesses, including employees from Canada Post and the Petersen King Law Corp. 

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca  

Twitter: @thatkatiemay