The former common-law partner of the gunman who killed 22 Nova Scotians April 18 and 19 has filed a lawsuit against the killer’s estate with the N.S. Supreme Court.
The lawsuit claims that “as a result of the actions of (the gunman), she has suffered physical, emotional and psychological injuries and trauma.”
Nova Scotia RCMP have confirmed that Gabriel Wortman’s shooting spree in Portapique began with an assault on his former girlfriend, who survived the overnight rampage by hiding in the woods until the morning of April 19, when the shooter had moved elsewhere.
He was shot and killed by police that day.
In his will, the gunman made the ex-girlfriend the sole heir to his assets, including homes worth $712,000 and $500,000 in personal belongings, court documents showed.
In June, the woman legally renounced her role as the executor of his $1.2 million in assets, according to court records.
The province’s public trustee then took control of the killer’s assets. They are now the subject of a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of victims by the husband of one of those who died, Kristen Beaton.
Thursday, the former girlfriend claimed in the lawsuit she was a victim of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of mental suffering at the hands of Wortman.
His former neighbour Brenda Forbes told Global News in June that she notified RCMP that Wortman had viciously beaten his partner in 2013 — a complaint the Mounties have no record of today.
Domestic violence is being examined as a key aspect of the mass shooting, as called for by local politicians and advocates.
The gunman’s former partner filed the lawsuit with Halifax lawyer Peter Rumscheidt, who declined to comment on the case.
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