Attempted murder laid against man after bulldozer used to raze house
‘He pushed, he backed up,’ said woman who escaped the rampage
A homeowner has spoken of her horror after her father-in-law allegedly drove a bulldozer into her home in the Rural Municipality of Calder while she was inside.
According to an RCMP news release, two occupants were able to escape without being injured. The man driving the bulldozer was arrested and transported to hospital by EMS with minor injuries. He faces a dozen charges, including attempted murder and assaulting a police officer.
On Thursday afternoon, the home sat destroyed, with a bulldozer sitting atop the rubble. Insulation, a case of Pepsi, a basket of laundry, toys and other household items were strewn around in the wreckage.
Bulldozer tracks that led right up to the family’s property could be seen coming across a field from the property of the accused.
The woman, who lived at the home with her husband and nineyear-old daughter, said the man in the bulldozer was her fatherin-law.
At 9:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Esterhazy RCMP responded to the residence in the RM of Calder, west of Highway 8 and north of the village of MacNutt.
The complainant told police they were inside a house with another person when a bulldozer drove into it. Police said the accused is known to the property owners.
“Everybody that’s come has said this is something out of a horror movie. He pushed, he backed up, he pushed, he backed up, he pushed,” the woman said of the man in the bulldozer, whom she first noticed when he uprooted a tree in her yard and rolled it over the family’s camper.
The woman was planning to go to bed soon, but stayed up because a neighbour came to visit.
She thinks they had only seconds to get out.
While hiding, she could hear her home being destroyed.
“I laid in that tall grass and I heard everything,” she said. “I heard my house just crumbling, I heard the breaking of stuff.”
“I took off running, hid in the back yard. I’m homeless, lost everything,” the woman said.
Upon phoning 911 and contacting her husband who was not at home, she said his reaction was, “What, where the f--- are you?”
Ronald Fatteicher, 59, of the RM of Calder has been charged with two counts of attempted murder, two counts of uttering threats to cause death or harm, four counts of mischief over $5,000, one count of assaulting a police officer, one count of intimidation of a justice participant and two counts of breach of undertaking.
The woman’s husband later came to pick her up. When they returned to the property she said the man tried to steal one of their trucks, but they restrained him until police arrived. She said the man called them vulgar names and told them they “deserved it.”
The woman said the suspect might have been disgruntled over an ongoing divorce with her husband’s mother.
Miraculously, the family’s pet cat survived the destruction unharmed. The woman found her pet on the property later that night, much to the relief of her young daughter, who was in Yorkton with relatives when the incident happened.
“She’s devastated and doesn’t want to come home,” she said of her daughter. “This man’s ruined my life.”
Some clothes are all that’s expected to be salvaged from the home. All the appliances were destroyed. Also in the home were the couple’s wedding video and album. They married last October.
Fatteicher is scheduled to appear in Yorkton provincial court on July 27 at 10 a.m. Police had no further details to release.
The woman commended Langenberg RCMP for their support, but hoped the justice system would learn from this incident. She still fears what will happen if the man is released from custody.
While she stood by what was her home, nearby residents came by to hug the woman. She said she and her husband have been flooded with calls and messages from neighbours offering support.
“The first day was rough, but now we’re OK, we’re ready to start moving forward,” she said.
The RM of Calder is located approximately 56 kilometres east of Yorkton.
She’s devastated and doesn’t want to come home. This man’s ruined my life.