$11.4-M lottery winner ‘lied to everybody’

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This article was published 28/11/2001 (9043 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former friend of lottery winner Jean Tessier says the elderly woman “lied to everybody” by claiming the $11.4-million ticket belonged exclusively to her family and shutting her home-care worker out of the winnings.

Lidia Shewchuk told a packed court yesterday she believes Corazon Macatula has a right to half of the Lotto 6/49 jackpot, which Macatula is seeking in a civil court trial this week.

Her claims were backed by several other witnesses who testified yesterday about their knowledge of a deal between Macatula and her elderly client to purchase lottery tickets and divide the winnings.

Shewchuk cleaned Tessier’s apartment between 1997 and 1999 while working as her home support worker. She said Tessier tried to get her involved in a lottery partnership.

“She said ‘Lidia, come play with me, 6/49.’ She said ‘you give a dollar, I’ll give a dollar, we’ll play and split winnings.’ I said ‘I don’t want to play Jean, I’m not a lucky woman,'” said Shewchuk.

She said she was initially thrilled when she saw Tessier’s son Larry and his wife Helen claim Manitoba’s second-largest lottery prize in March 2000.

“I love these people, and I was so happy, like my own son had won the ticket. I said maybe this was a gift from God,” Shewchuk told court, adding the Tessiers became like a second family to her during her years of employment.

Shewchuk said Jean Tessier wasn’t as quick to celebrate after learning Macatula was taking legal action against her family on the grounds she owned half the ticket under an oral agreement between the two.

“She told me ‘honest to God, this ticket was bought by my son,'” said Shewchuk.

Shewchuk believed the family and thought poorly of Macatula until reading a newspaper story earlier this year in which they admitted, in court documents, that they didn’t purchase the winning ticket, but deliberately misled the public and Manitoba Lotteries.

Larry and Helen Tessier, who may take the witness stand as early as this afternoon, say they made up the story to protect Jean Tessier — who is also expected to testify — from the publicity.

They deny Macatula has any rights to the ticket and is trying to take advantage of their good fortune.

“I like when people respect each other, not when they cheat and lie. She lied to me. She lied to everybody,” said Shewchuk.

“I wish I could be here as a witness for Mrs. Tessier today, because she was my friend. But there’s something fishy to this situation.”

Shewchuk rejected claims from Tessier’s lawyer, John Scurfield, that she holds a grudge against her former friend because Tessier stopped taking her phone calls after her lottery win and never offered her money.

Shewchuk said Tessier told her the family was considering offering Macatula $100,000 so she could visit her ailing mother in the Philippines, but decided against it because it could appear as an admission of guilt.

Arrangement

Jean Tessier’s former grocery delivery man also testified yesterday how the elderly woman once told him about her lottery ticket arrangement with Macatula, who she described as a wonderful home-care worker.

Mark Singh came forward to the Free Press in August after reading a story on the lawsuit.

He said Jean Tessier told him she and Macatula “were such good friends, if we ever win we’ll split it half”.

Scurfield questioned his motives for staying silent so long and even had a private investigator dig into his past, which includes allegations of theft from a Main Street grocery store he once worked at.

“You’re on Cora’s side, aren’t you?” asked Scurfield.

“I just want the truth to come out,” he said, adding he’s never met Macatula in his life and initially feared getting involved in the messy legal battle.

A former co-worker of Larry Tessier at Winnipeg Transit also took the witness stand yesterday, claiming he once spoke of his mother’s deal with Macatula to purchase lottery tickets.

“One time we were talking and he wondered if the home-care worker was going to buy the ticket (for an upcoming draw),” said Brian Brouillette, who works as a mechanic but is on sick leave after recently suffering a heart attack.

“He mentioned they would share if they ever got any winning.”

Brouillette said he congratulated Larry Tessier after his mother learned she’d won the jackpot in March 2000 – but said his co-worker never mentioned having any stake in the ticket.

Larry quit his job after the lottery win. Macatula’s lawsuit claims the prize money has been divided between Larry Tessier, his wife, mother, three sons and two brothers.

Macatula’s lawyer, Bill Olson, is expected to finish his case this morning. Scurfield will then begin calling his evidence in the afternoon.

The case, before Queen’s Bench Justice Sid Schwartz, is expected to end by Friday.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca