Lawlor’s talk disturbed friend

Says the accused told him he wanted to ‘hurt men who hurt other men,’ court hears at murder trial

KITCHENER — Derrick Lawlor, charged with murdering a man after having sex with him, once said that if he had only a few months to live, he would spend his remaining days killing sexual offenders, a counsellor who became friends with Lawlor says.

Lawlor, 56, of Waterloo made other disturbing comments in the weeks before Mark McCreadie’s body was found on the edge of Victoria Park on April 10, 2014, Randy Scott testified at Lawlor’s first-degree murder trial

Scott said one night he and Lawlor were discussing private versus public sex offender registries. Scott said he told Lawlor he had concerns about public registries, noting that in the United States, some offenders had been “targeted.”

“He certainly expressed that he was not worried about the safety of offenders,” Scott told Crown prosecutor Linda Elliott. “At one point he had commented to me that if he only had two months to live, he would kill every sexual offender.”

Cross-examined by defence lawyer Stephen Proudlove, Scott said Lawlor did not specify he wanted to kill gay male offenders — just “sexual offenders.”

“He had often told me he wanted to have a lasting relationship with a man and had trouble with dating and meeting the right person, but he was openly looking for a

male partner.”

Scott first met Lawlor in 2008 when Scott was a social worker at K-W Counselling Services and Lawlor was an intern. They became friends, often having dinner or coffee together. Lawlor was never Scott’s client.

Before McCreadie’s death, Lawlor had been on contract as a student adviser at AccessAbility Services at the University of Waterloo, providing advice to students with disabilities.

Scott said Lawlor claimed he had twice been sexually assaulted by men. He referred to promiscuous gay men as “perpetrators,” the trial has been told.

Scott said Lawlor told him that at one point “he had gone looking” for one man who had sexually assaulted him.

“He said he wanted to hurt men who hurt other men. He told me went to the park and had a gentleman in his car who he had sex with, that he considered strangling, and that he had brought a rope with him but he said he changed his mind …”

Scott’s wife, Catherine Walters-Gilhuly, said she recalls hearing Lawlor talk about “predators in the park” and how he bought gloves and a rope.

On April 5, 2014, while driving to the airport for a week’s vacation in Florida, Scott told his wife about the “very disturbing” things Lawlor had said. After the trip, he planned to call police.

In Florida on April 11, Scott got a text message from Lawlor.

“Hi can you call me. I need to share breaking news with you,” the text says.

Scott called Lawlor, got no answer, then texted: “Text me if you would like me to try calling again. Hope you are OK.”

A few minutes later, they spoke on the phone.

“He told me that they had found a body in Victoria Park and he was afraid he might have something to do with it. He proceeded to tell me that he had no memory from Wednesday (April 9) at about 2 p.m. until he came to his senses at 3 a.m. on Thursday morning at Grand River Hospital.”

The Crown alleges Lawlor murdered McCreadie on the night of April 9.

Scott said he told Lawlor he had to tell somebody about what Lawlor had just said. He said he also encouraged Lawlor to go to the hospital.

Scott’s wife overheard their conversation and found a story online about the body being found. Scott called police and told them what Lawlor had said.

The cause of McCreadie’s death was “external neck compression.”

McCreadie, 50, was a separated father with two grown children and a granddaughter. He lived in a rooming house on Agnes Street in Kitchener.

The trial continues on Thursday.