Accused wife-abuser at centre of N.S. hit man case defends reputation on YouTube

HALIFAX – Michael Ryan, the accused wife-abuser in his wife’s murder plot case, is taking to YouTube to try to clear his name.

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled to stay an appeal of Ryan’s ex-wife’s acquittal of attempting to hire a hit man to have him killed. In a video posted Sunday, Ryan asserts he was the victim of lies and false accusations.

Reading carefully and sedately from a nine-minute long script, he calls the Supreme Court decision a “farce and a disgrace to the Canadian judicial system.”

In the nearly five years since his ex-wife’s arrest, and throughout her trial and two subsequent appeals, Ryan said he never got to tell his story or defend himself.

“I have no explanation for why my testimony was not heard by the courts,” Ryan stated, adding he waited in his car outside the courthouse throughout her trial for his opportunity to take the stand. Neither the Crown nor the defence called him as a witness, in any of the proceedings. “It was even more shocking to me when Nicole Ryan was acquitted of her charges by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.”

Nicole Ryan, a former Nova Scotia school teacher, attempted to hire an undercover RCMP officer in 2008 to kill Ryan, whom she alleged threatened to kill her and her daughter.

Background: SCOC to rule on N.S. woman who tried to hire hit man to kill abusive husband

She was acquitted in 2010, based on her defence’s argument that her actions were under duress. The Supreme Court justices disagreed with this, but opted not move forward with the appeal and stayed the proceedings.

In its decision on Jan. 18, the Supreme Court ruled 8-1 against ordering a new trial to overturn Nicole Ryan’s 2010 acquittal, saying “… it is an exceptional situation that warrants an exceptional remedy.”

“I strongly believe the Supreme Court of Canada has denied the truth to the Canadian public, in what is seemingly all one big cover-up for the errors, they state, the lower courts had previously made in their judgements,” he said.
Justices Louis Lebel and Thomas Cromwell wrote “The abuse which she suffered at the hands of Mr. Ryan took an enormous toll on her, as, no doubt, have these protracted proceedings.”

They noted the trial judge accepted her testimony that she had been abused by husband, but said it appeared authorities seemed more concerned about protecting him than dealing with her repeated – at least nine – requests for protection from the RCMP.

Michael Ryan, now remarried and living in Ontario with his new wife and his daughter from his marriage to Nicole, said he has been “painted as a monster” and accuses his ex of wanting him killed just for money.

He said he left her in 2007 after watching their marriage and her mental health deteriorate. He blamed her family for coming between them, saying Nicole often fought with them over money.
“I wanted nothing more than an amicable separation and a divorce from Nicole Ryan. I was not challenging the custody of our daughter. I was prepared to pay child support and I was prepared to divide the assets more than equal in her favour.”

He said he is saddened that he never got to defend himself and that their daughter has suffered because of his name and reputation being tarnished.

“It has been hard for her to see the lies about me through the media,” Ryan said. “Sadly you put everyone and everything before your own daughter.”

Nicole Ryan told reporters in Halifax following Friday’s ruling that she wanted to get her life back.

“I will continue working, hopefully just to re-establish my life, put my life in order,” she told a news conference at her lawyer’s office in Halifax.

Her ex-husband said she has rebuffed all of his attempts to maintain her relationship with the girl, whom he was granted sole custody of in 2009.

Nicole Ryan said she still fears for the life of her daughter.

*With files from The Canadian Press

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