“You’re a loose cannon and I’m fodder,” alleged victim testifies during Robert John Sheppard attempted murder trial

Grintals told the court how she had been trying to end the relationship with Sheppard; that often he could be very nice one minute, and vicious the next. Two months after getting to know one another, the relationship became one of fear, intimidation, threats, and on occasion – violence.

She testified that while with Sheppard, her father had been suffering from cancer, and her mother was also diagnosed with serious health issues. She had become their primary care giver, while also trying to work and take care of her son. At one point, she and Sheppard had planned a weekend away together, but it was postponed because Grintals was taking care of her parents; something she said Sheppard was not very understanding about.

A series of texts between the two were read in court; many of which appeared to show Sheppard regularly wanting to know where she was, with whom, why and when the two would next get together.

“I didn’t want to see him,” she said.

On April 15, after a series of texts and phone calls from Sheppard to Grintals, she testified she made dinner around 6 p.m. for her son, his girlfriend and the friend. She then went outside with a drink of vodka to decorate the backyard after doing some shopping earlier in the day, and to make a fire in the fire pit.

Sometime after 8 p.m., her son’s girlfriend opened the back door from the basement and told her “Rob’s here.” Grintals directed the young woman not to open the door to the home. She also said she had heard banging on the front door and ignored it.

It was then that she said Sheppard unlatched the backyard gate, walked into the backyard, sat next to her by the fire pit and told her, “You can’t keep doing this/ignoring me.” Grintals then became upset and told Sheppard her telephone was near a stereo and that “it’s not all about you, Rob.”

Sheppard then asked whether she had called police, to which she answered she hadn’t.

It was at this point in her testimony she began shaking and sobbing as she recalled what happened next.

“I have a gun and 9000 rounds of ammunition,” she told the court Sheppard informed her. He then got up from his chair, and walked out of the backyard.

“I believed every word he said…. he was just letting me know,” cried Grintals.

She ran into her home, yelled at her son, his girlfriend and their friend to turn off the lights, the music and to call 9-1-1. During that time, she said her son offered to go outside to speak with Sheppard. She replied, “no you won’t.”

As she spoke to her son, Grintals said she saw Sheppard enter the yard again with something in his hand, and she immediately went back outside. What he carried, she testified, looked like a bag that carried a long gun of some sort.

“What the f**ck is that?” she told the court she asked Sheppard. “Please don’t do this.”

She then said that Sheppard ran at her, and shoved her so hard, she fell against the basement door – but immediately stood up again. She then reached for the door handle as Sheppard went back in the direction of the bag he had brought and she ran inside.

A few seconds later, Grintals reached the bottom of the stairs leading to her home’s main floor and heard several gunshots. She, her son and his girlfriend then ran out of the home through the garage, down the street and found a yard with a gate that could be unlatched. They hid next to an air conditioner. Her son, she said, was extremely upset because he thought his friend may have been killed in the home.

Police arrived a short time later, and everyone in the home was accounted for.

Co-Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles then asked Grintals whether she had owned a gun. She replied that she had a 12-guage shotgun she kept under her bed. While showing her pictures of bullet holes in the home’s door, window, sheet ducting, in-floor heating tanks, and a picture on a wall, he also asked whether any of those holes had been there prior to 8 p.m. April 15.

“They were not,” she answered.

Grintals also testified that there had never been any bullets in her back yard, and never any spent cartridges.

She also testified that while she heard what sounded like gunshots, she did not see a gun, nor did she see Sheppard holding a gun and shooting at her.

Grintals was briefly cross-examined by defense lawyer Andre Ouellette Friday afternoon. The trial has been adjourned to Jun 10 and 11, when several other Crown witnesses, including police and a firearms expert are expected to testify. It’s not clear at this point whether Sheppard will take the stand in his defence.

by Lara Fominoff

“You’re a loose cannon and I’m fodder,” alleged victim testifies during Robert John Sheppard attempted murder trial

What's Happening