No obvious tension between Olands, assistant testifies in court

On the day he was savagely beaten to death, multi-millionaire businessman Richard Oland was catching up on work in his Saint John office and appeared pleased when his only son, Dennis, popped in to discuss genealogy and the Oland family tree.

Over seven years later, Dennis Oland is on trial for a second time for the bludgeoning death of his dad on that day in 2011, and prosecutors have told the court money was the motive.

Maureen Adamson, Richard Oland’s executive assistant at the time of his death, was on the stand for day two of the Oland murder retrial on Thursday, recounting the daily routine of the office in uptown Saint John which included keeping track of money Dennis owed his father.

She was the first to discover the body and the bloody crime scene on the morning of July 7, 2011. Oland, 69, had been struck 45 times, mostly on the head, with a weapon that was never found. Adamson said Dennis Oland was making interest-only payments of $1,666.67 per month on a loan of more than half a million dollars Richard Oland had extended when his son was in a tight financial spot due to divorce several years earlier.

Prosecutors have told the court, and the defence has agreed, that at the time of his father’s death Dennis Oland had fallen again into severe financial stress as a result of living beyond his means.

The defence is arguing Dennis Oland was used to being in debt and did not regard it as a big deal. The prosecution says financial pressures were the trigger for what it describes as a rage killing.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Michael Lacy, a Toronto lawyer and a new member of the Oland defence team, Adamson described what she knew about the relationship between father and son, saying she did not see signs of the strained and troubled relationship referred to by prosecutors.