Friend suspected Amsel was behind 2013 bombing at ex-wife’s home, court told

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Before he was accused of mailing a series of explosive packages within Winnipeg, 51-year-old Guido Amsel was questioned by a friend about his involvement in a 2013 bombing at his ex-wife’s home, court heard Friday.

The accused’s friend and former co-worker, Ollie Ehrmantraut, testified that he asked Amsel about the 2013 explosion at his ex-wife Iris Amsel’s home while they were out target shooting together in 2014 or 2015. The explosion damaged the front of Amsel’s home and garage in the RM of St. Clements in December 2013, leaving a large crater behind and scattering debris onto neighbours’ property, court previously heard.

“I had asked him about, ‘Hey, did you bomb Iris’s house?'” Ehrmantraut said. “He looked at me — there was no comment, there was no ‘yes,’ there was no ‘no.’ And just in further conversation, we were talking, he said, ‘Do you think if people get bombed like that, do you think the second one would miss?'”

Guido Amsel has pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder arising from the 2013 explosion as well as for three bombs that were mailed in July 2015 to his ex-wife and lawyers involved in their divorce. One of the packages caused an explosion at a River Avenue law office that seriously injured lawyer Maria Mitousis.

He is presumed innocent.

Ehrmantraut, who developed a business relationship with Amsel in the automotive repair industry starting in 2002, said he didn’t think Amsel’s silence about the bombing was normal.

“In my experience with Guido, I did not find that to be normal, no,” he said during questioning from Crown attorney Mitchell Lavitt. “There’s no filter with Guido. If he’s got something to say to you, he’ll say it.”

Ehrmantraut said he interpreted Amsel’s remark about a second bombing as “just a comment” and didn’t notify police, who he knew were already investigating.

Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Saheel Zaman, Ehrmantraut said he didn’t remember ever having any other conversations with Amsel about the 2013 explosion.

Ehrmantraut, who described Guido Amsel as “one of the smartest people I know,” said he remained friends with the couple after they split, but he said Guido would “rant” to him about the legal process and his belief that his ex-wife was paying off “dirty” police and lawyers. He would sometimes become upset “to the point of shaking” during these conversations, Ehrmantraut said.

“This was the main thing in his life that was dragging him down,” he said.

The auto shop building Ehrmantraut owned and leased out was the site of a police-controlled explosion on July 4, 2015 after an explosive package was delivered there. It was addressed to Iris Amsel at Ollie’s Auto at 599 Washington Ave., even though she actually worked at a different business on the same lot, Ehrmantraut testified. The package exploded at 597 Washington after a police bomb robot tried to destroy it with a water cannon, court heard.

Ehrmantraut said he remembered shaking the package next to his head after a co-worker retrieved it from the Canada Post deliveryman. He said he speculated at the time that the “chicken scratch” handwriting on the package looked like Guido Amsel’s and joked that it might be a bomb. Amsel’s defence team questioned him on that, pointing Ehrmantraut to his police statement in which he said the package looked like it had been addressed by a child.

The return address on the package was 127 Larsen Ave. Auto mechanic Kevin McKenzie, who brought the package in from the mail that day, testified Friday that he couldn’t find any such address when he looked for it later.

“I just rode by on my bike and couldn’t find it,” he said.

McKenzie, who had previously rented space from Guido Amsel’s autobody business Euro-Tech, said he’d thought the package was a book.

“I actually thought it looked like Guido’s writing,” he said. “I actually made that comment,” he added, even though it had been years since he last saw Amsel’s handwriting.

The trial, presided over by provincial court Judge Tracey Lord, is set to wrap up in mid-December.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay

Katie May
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Katie May is a general-assignment reporter for the Free Press.

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