Woman handed life sentence for role in murder-for-hire plan

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This article was published 18/09/2015 (3992 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba woman has been convicted of her role in a sadistic murder-for-hire plot that was executed with ruthless precision inside the victim’s Interlake home.

Rita Cushnie, 59, was found guilty Friday of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder for the 2007 attack that killed Ivan Radocaj, a former pro wrestler known as the Croatian Giant. She was given an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Cushnie had testified in her own defence and denied any knowledge of the plan to attack Radocaj. But Queen’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond said Cushnie was clearly lying.

“I found her evidence to be contrived, sometimes nonsensical and at times fabricated,” Bond said in reading a summary of her lengthy written reasons. “Her explanations were false. Her evidence does not raise a reasonable doubt.”

Cushnie was clearly emotional upon learning her fate, which will see her behind bars well into her 80s. Defence lawyer Mike Cook said outside court they plan to appeal.

“Rita Cushnie and her family are devastated by the decision,” Cook told the Free Press. “She has espoused her innocence from the first day I met her.”

Four others had already been convicted of their roles in the slaying.

Melody Sanford, the victim’s wife, and Donald Richard, Cushnie’s son, were found guilty of first-degree murder. Christopher Houle and Daniel Richard, Cushnie’s nephew, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. All four are serving life sentences. The three men were the ones who actually carried out the killing.

The Crown relied on testimony from the co-accused in helping to prove their case against Cushnie. They suggested Cushnie was fully aware of what was happening and even helped “coax” her own son into the deadly plot.

Cook had argued their testimony should be dismissed, especially that of Sanford.

“She is a greedy killer who wanted her slain husband’s estate — the husband she caused to be slain,” Cook said in closing arguments earlier this year. “Miss Sanford is an expert liar, to the point of being pathological.”

Cook said Friday that a focus of their appeal will be the fact the judge accepted their evidence against Cushnie.

“The principal Crown witnesses were unsavoury and their evidence was not proof beyond a reasonable doubt as to Ms. Cushnie’s overall culpability,” Cook said outside court.

Radocaj, 43, was beaten to death weeks after he married Sanford. He filed documents just weeks before his death in August 2007, claiming Sanford “tricked” him into a fraudulent wedding because she was after his money. He also expressed fears she and others may try to hurt him.

While on the witness stand at her trial, Cushnie repeatedly insisted she was kept in the dark while her friends and family plotted Radocaj’s demise.

Cushnie admitted to allowing Sanford to stay at her place when the woman began complaining Radocaj was being physically and emotionally abusive. Cushnie said Sanford was also claiming Radocaj had abused her daughter from another marriage.

Cushnie also admitted opening a bank account under her name in which Sanford deposited $6,500. The Crown alleged that formed part of the murder conspiracy. Cushnie insisted she was just allowing her friend to hide money from Radocaj.

Cushnie told court she saw her son and Sanford kissing in the hours after Radocaj had died but before she claims she knew Radocaj was dead. She believed the pair had actually started to form a romantic relationship, not that they were celebrating a murder.

Cushnie admitted she called her son a “bad, bad boy,” including shortly after Radocaj was killed. Cushnie said that’s always been her nickname for him, based on a song they both like by Nazareth.

She also admitted seeing Sanford burning a bag of items she later learned contained evidence of the murder. But she claimed she would have taken a much different action if she knew what had transpired.

“I would have phoned 13 miles south to the (nearest) RCMP,” Cushnie told court.

www.mikeoncrime.com