Paul wanted to plead guilty right at the beginning of it but like there was some stories going around that he gave statements on the other people that were involved, so he wanted the preliminary to come out and who said what so when all the evidence was presented Paul changed his plea to guilty. But they charged him with uttering threats. Paul didnt utter no threats but he wasnt about to blame it on somebody else, so he pled guilty to all the charges that was read out. He didnt want to turn around and say, it wasnt me who said them words it was Joey Yetman. Paul was willing to deal with the consequences the judge was going to sentence him to. A lot better than ratting on Joey and having to put up with the things that happens to rats in prison.
Paul was afraid the police were going to come and shoot him. They were looking for him with sidearms. He told the police he didnt even know a person by the name of Joey Yetman. He said that on the date of the robbery he was at the Dunns’ on Field Street, drinking in the back yard all day, so he could not possibly had been at the CIBC committing this armed robbery. He demanded that they conduct a line-up so that he could show them he was innocent. A customer at the bank picked him out of the line-up.
Paul did not lie in court. He took the blame for that armed robbery. It’s not like he told the judge a lie. The judge asked Paul a question and he said yes that’s what happened, but he was taking the blame, it’s not like he got up on the stand and lied.
Gary Bemister: Look, up until this murder you were never charged with anything.
Paul: No.
Since this happened youre charged with impaired driving and car theft. Now youre charged with armed robbery. Youre looking at eight to ten years and we figure youre under a lot of pressure.
I’m under no pressure.
From what I understand, Paul, guilt is only a matter of time.
SHELDON TROKE AND TRISHA HICKMAN WIRETAP
Sheldon: When me and Donna had our arguments and I threw a glass it hit me—Sheldon you got to stop this. And nothing would continue. We had our shouts and it would stop. For me to turn around and beat Donna, no.
Trisha: Do you know what the cop said to me? Did Paul ever beat the shit out of me. I said are you off your head. Just like that. Paul would never think about doing that to me.
Sheldon: I got to laugh because Donna’s cracked see, God bless her soul. The cops when they were trying to charge me with that armed robbery. They went to Donna. Gary Bemister come back to me and he said that’s some girl you got there. I said why? He said I asked her did you ever abuse her and she said yes. It happened two nights ago, and she hauled her turtleneck down. There was a big hickey on her neck. She said I enjoyed every minute of it. I cracked up.
Trisha: I would have died laughing.
She said it right serious to him. God bless her soul. Trisha her father and her mother are always talking about God and heaven.
Religious.
And I know Donna was a bit into shoplifting. And I got a bible there by her picture. And I ask myself God please forgive her let her go to heaven.
She’s in heaven.
I hope so.
CATHY FURNEAUX
She was coming up Freshwater Road one day and outside her house a police car was hauled in on the side of the road just about a door down from where she lives. They asked her could she get in the back. The driver was Ches Hedderson. He turned around and said, Cathy you knows and I knows who killed Donna. Cathy said, I swear on my mother I do not know who killed Donna, but I wish you’d catch the maniac that did kill the poor girl.
He started roaring in her face and said Sheldon Troke killed her, and Paul Troke helped him clean up the mess and then they came back to your place and you helped them clean up. By this time Hedderson was eating the head off her. That Cathy was lying. And he kept roaring at her. The Trokes never scared her—he was the one that was scaring her. She said youre fucking nuts. And she got out of the car. Paul Troke was outside the car, walking back and forth, looking in the police car, but she never took notice. Paul was at her house just about every day.
LOUISE MOTTY
She was on duty in the downtown area that Friday night. She was riding second on the van. They were driving across George Street when Paul Troke came out of a nightclub called Sam Shades. He was with a woman. He was walking west with her on his arm towards the Sundance. It was just before one oclock. He was wearing a little suit jacket but it was short like a bellhop type and he had no shirt on underneath and a lot of gold chains on his neck.
The clubs close at two a.m. It was a nice night. There was another woman standing in the laneway between two buildings that leads into Sam Shades and she was calling out to Paul. That was Trisha Hickman.
GARY BEMISTER
They were working out of the Major Crimes office which is fairly small. There are seven investigators and it was getting cramped so they made use of a lecture theatre. They had a desk in front and several chairs for an audience. Every morning they had a briefing session. The analysts have their lists and a priority basis of what they want done. Ches Hedderson detailed the teams and gave them their duties and at the end of the day they had a debriefing. Everyone said what they did that day, any concerns, and the investigative team talked about the file and where they were going with it. They decided what could be made public and Gary Bemister was in charge of issuing press releases and applying for warrants. There was a great deal of alarm just after this murder. So Gary wanted to calm people down. He suggested that while no arrests have been made the assailant is in custody, and people need not fear him being loose. Sheldon Troke was in custody and this was mentioned in the warrant application to search his mother’s house. Any time a search warrant is filed in the Provincial Court the media have access to it and unless there’s an order specifically sealing the warrant the media can go down and look at it and report what the police put in the warrant and this is what happened here. Not having it sealed, it was an oversight on Gary’s part that day.
THE VIVIANS WIRETAP
Pat: They gave the news about her.
Ruth: Shit I missed it.
They gave out they got two suspects.
Ruth: Two?
It’s him and his brother. They says one of the children saw what went on.
They knows who done it then.
Sure I knows who fucking done it.
Him and his brother.
They got the car now and everything. She was stabbed thirty-one times.
My Jesus that’s terrible.
Her shorts were wrapped around her throat.
That’s brutal see. Theyre fucking nuts. Somebody should kill them. They should be executed. No that would be too good for them.
Fucking bastards.
Tom: They had it on the news.
Your mother was just telling me.
Ruth: They got one. Sure I knew that because Donna, what breath she had in her told Sharon not to come out.
Pat: Now the child is after seeing it.
Ruth: As long as I’m here I’ll always think on her at the foot of the bed.
He dug the dirt and he piled it on all of us. He had that all planned.
What in Jesus can we do about it. We just lived down underneath them.
JIM LYTHGOE
Could you see a possible danger if down the road someone decided to make up a story about Sheldon Troke? He would now have information that the police believed two suspects were involved, one committing the murder, the second an accessory after the fact by aiding and the disposal of evidence? That the daughter placed a 911 call and there were thirty-one knife wounds and a pair of underpants twisted around her neck? Did you have any concerns when that material came out with regards to aiding people who say well Sheldon told me this, that suddenly a lot of information is made public? And what is this from Ruth Vivian about Donna telling Sharon not to come out? That is the first we’ve heard of that.
CATHY FURNEAUX AND BERTHA TROKE WIRETAP
Cathy: I was talking to Agnes Whalen this morning. She had a ca
ll right after the news last night that Donna was out to a car Friday morning talking to the driver. If that was Paul he’d be in talking with Sheldon. Paul never had the car Friday. The day Donna got buried after they left somebody came in and put a load of flowers on the grave and Agnes got a phone call saying Paul came in a white car and threw a load of flowers on Donna’s grave. Now I said Agnes for one thing Paul dont have a white car and Paul got no time for graveyards because he never even went to Raymond’s service he waited till eleven oclock that night and got a taxi in and got in over the fence.
Bertha: Agnes was telling me the little one who knocked around with Sharon said that Sharon used to tell her everything about Sheldon, that he fought with her mom, and the police came and asked Sharon did she tell Ashley this and Sharon said no. So you better watch who youre talking to because you could be talking to someone and he’s real nice to your face and theyre the very ones that are going to tell stories to the police. I mean I knows myself that Donna was one for going out and fighting with other women.
Cathy: She had the strength in her.
If you knows that youre going to die, youre going to reach out and try to shove somebody away, I mean you got to scrob or kick or do something.
Cathy: If she wanted to, sure she could fight if she wanted to. Donna was a big girl.
JIM LYTHGOE
The beige doily was partly under the coffee table. It was folded up and bagged. How big is that thing? Let’s unfold it. There appears to be a cigarette embedded into the doily. There is no reference to that cigarette in Gary Bemister’s notes. He doesnt recall having seen it. There’s a cigarette stuck onto this doily and the doily was under the coffee table where the deceased died. It’s a Player’s Light with some burgundy red material on the cigarette. There is no sign of lipstick on any of the other cigarettes. This cigarette was missed by forensics but if you look at the red colour there, it’s not on the end of the cigarette. This is burned right on. It might be blood or lipstick or carpet fibre. That cigarette burned into the doily and melted the material.
It’s a different brand of cigarette from the others. Donna Whalen may have been smoking this cigarette. It could have been left in the ashtray to burn or she could have been smoking it.
The cigarette now has finally come loose from where it was burned into the doily. The cigarette has fallen onto the courtroom floor.
CHES HEDDERSON
There was security put on the crime scene and street patrol officers knocked on doors and met people to see if they had any information. Crime Stoppers were brought in and there was broadcasts and posters made for tipsters.
When Gary Bemister went to the house of Bertha Troke, he was allowed into the house quite readily. She didnt wish to see the warrant. Gary searched and she said you can search the car too and gave him the keys to her red Corsica.
JIM LYTHGOE
Inspector Hedderson also went by the house without a warrant and questioned Bertha as to what clothes Sheldon had been wearing the night before. She voluntarily gave him all of the clothes that Sheldon had been wearing. A T-shirt at the Troke home had a bloody substance on it. That shirt was tested and found that the material was not blood. If Sheldon Troke or family members were going to remove things from their house that were suspicious they would have certainly removed a T-shirt with blood on it.
EDIE GUZZWELL
She was upset and she came into Fort Townshend to speak to Louise Motty. It was the day Constable Motty was bringing Sharon to her mom’s wake. Edie said that Sheldon punched Rod Tessier out into a cold junk because he was interested in Donna. Everybody’s chatting and Sharon is exposed to these conversations, Aunt Edie said. Sharon was at Presentation House. It is a safe house, a house that is designed for children who’ve been taken away from their parents. It’s run by the Sisters. They are dressed in religious uniforms and civilian.
Sharon told Edie it was Sheldon’s voice. Donna’s mother told Sharon it couldnt have been Sheldon’s voice because he was home in bed.
Edie was concerned because Donna didnt look the same in the coffin and she wondered how Sharon would react.
AGNES WHALEN AND RUTH VIVIAN WI RETAP
Agnes: I’m tormented, I can’t rest. If the murderer were brought to justice I know I’d be able to content myself.
Ruth: I dont think youre going to have to worry about him much longer. I can tell you something but youre not allowed really to know.
No I know.
They warned me but I heard what went on and I told Gary Bemister. They took a tape of me because I can’t go to court where I’m laid up. And that night I heard them about quarter after one going up over the stairs. Donna kicked off her pumps and she was singing out, dont do that any more Sheldon, and she repeated it. So he’s not to get out of prison.
I’m not worrying about him getting out of prison because if I thought that he killed her, I’d kill him myself.
So would I to be honest.
I didnt think he done it because Donna told me she was driving him home. But now after I heard he got out again and his mother covered up for him then I knows he done it.
Unless there’s a couple of Sheldons going around but she definitely called his name. I could hear the shoes coming off and she got a fashion when she gets up over the stairs and then her voice started to get lower.
Sharon says she said, No no leave me alone leave me alone. But she dont know if she was dreaming or not.
Mabel next door she’s after telling the same as I did but not the same words.
Well Donna saw a shadow out by the door and she rang me so Pat and Tom went around but never seen no one. I was still talking to her on the phone when she said, Mom listen there’s somebody coming and here Sheldon came up over the stairs. Now she made a tape of him that night.
That was Thursday night. He broke the front door in.
Did he break the front door in because he had a key.
According to Tom he did because he was there. Well that night, little did I think there was anyone up there murdering her.
If only you had phoned the police. She told me all along she was going to be killed. If I dont be killed now I’ll be killed when I comes back from the mainland. I said Donna what are you holding, and her father said are you frightened and she said yes Dad I am. He said something you can’t get out of? She said yes but she wouldnt tell us what it was. He knew she was going to the mainland.
You can rest assured he done it.
He’ll pay for it. He’s a con artist. He had me fooled.
He’s not getting out no more.
I thought we were after getting through to him after Abery gave him the job in the cemetery.
Theyre a tribe.
Theyre different. I said to Sharon I dont think that Sheldon done that. Then they took the children and put them in Presentation House. They might have got more out of Sharon because she’s afraid now theyre going to take her again. She’s clammed up and anybody says they’d take her even for a holiday she’ll come and link up with me and say Nanny I dont want to go.
Donna used to come down and sit on the foot of my bed and talk to me.
She used to say Ruth Vivian is a sweetheart.
She told me all about you.
When I goes into stores and I comes out I gets all flustered. I dont get half what I wanted and I see Sharon walking out through the door with me. I thought the child would take it away a bit but I’m more of a strength to her.
She was out there that morning on the step screeching.
I said to your Pat if there’s anything to make the case stronger. I’m not afraid of them. The Trokes called me up. Telling me how Sheldon missed her and was praying for her.
Dont ever give out any information to them. The Trokes asked me did I know anybody with light hair she was going out with.
I’ll tell you where that’s coming from. She went and had her fortune told. Madeline Ryall said she was going to leave Sheldon and go with a light-hair man. But she never had no men i
n her apartment.
The only one she had in there was Paul Troke. Used to go looking for his brother.
Well sure Paul got light hair. He was the fellow just had the armed robbery.
If he gets ten years.
They all should be put away. When theyre put away we’ll be safe. But Ruth here is something that torments me. Did she kick up much of a fuss?
No just ahh.
Sheldon Troke.
I never heard. I never heard no voice of a man. It is like he had it planned.
My sister Edie she can’t rest. She helped me rear Donna up when I went out to work because I got no support for her. Donna used to tell me everything but not what was bothering her. She was a sweet youngster all her lifetime. I thought I had him under control with her.
She told me stories. She even showed me the marks.
She carried them marks up to the hospital and showed them to me. I said keep clear of him. Now he told me he was off the drugs, he was off the beer and he said it’s not worth it. And then he told me I’m not going out with Donna no more unless Donna wants me and wants to change.
He never changed.
I said Sheldon keep clear of her. Wait till she makes the first approach. He said I’m not going out with her no more and here that night he was out to the show with her where there was dancing and I said my God Donna are you getting off your head. She was either afraid to give him up or she was stuck on him.
The Death of Donna Whalen Page 17