Mountie testifies he’s victim of setup

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This article was published 04/03/2010 (5669 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SELKIRK — A Manitoba RCMP officer claims he is the victim of a vindictive plot by his ex-girlfriend, a Crown attorney, to falsely accuse him of criminal harassment.

Cpl. Jeff Moyse testified at his trial Wednesday. He accused Debbie Buors of trying to goad him into a confrontation after their eight-month relationship ended in December 2008. The pair had met while working in Powerview.

"She told me if she wanted to, she could make my life miserable, that I better watch my step with her. She told me she was capable of anything," Moyse said of an alleged conversation with Buors in early March 2009.

Moyse said he believes Buors was trying to "set up something physical" so she could build a criminal case against him. Buors sent an email on March 11 saying she was putting Moyse "on notice" she would seek a restraining order and/or criminal charges if he had any contact with her. She appeared at his RCMP detachment the following day to interview two victims of crime. Moyse initially refused to let her in the building.

"I knew she had a different agenda against me. I was completely being entrapped by her. I wanted her to be kept away from me," he said.

Moyse said he saw several bouts of bizarre behaviour from Buors, including a December 27, 2008, incident in which he found her hiding under her covers following an argument with her teenaged son. He said Buors screamed at him when he offered to help, adding she no longer cared about anyone.

Buors has told a different story in court, saying Moyse wouldn’t accept the end of their relationship and flooded her with hundreds of unwanted phone calls, emails and text messages. Two of her colleagues testified Wednesday they shared her concerns about Moyse.

Prosecutor Lisa Carson told court about a voice-mail message Moyse left for Buors just days after her father died in January 2009.

"It was very angry, very confrontational… When I listened to it, I started shaking," Carson said. "I was very concerned about her safety."

Buors asked Carson and another friend to sit near the entrance to ensure Moyse wasn’t allowed into the funeral home. "It struck me as very unfortunate that she had to worry about that…" Carson said.

She added Buors didn’t want the serious relationship Moyse was seeking. "He seemed to be overbearing in terms of not giving her any breathing room."

Defence lawyer Gene Zazelenchuk said Wednesday Buors sent "mixed messages" to Moyse by contacting him days after claiming she didn’t want to speak with him again.

Moyse will be cross-examined today.

www.mikeoncrime.com