BLOOD SPATTER EXPERT OFFERS TESTIMONY AT OLAND TRIAL.
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — The beating death of New Brunswick businessman Richard Oland sent blood flying in all directions and would have spattered the assailant, Dennis Oland’s murder trial was told Wednesday.
Retired RCMP bloodstain analyst Patrick Laturnus testified that blood spatter “went all around the deceased in a 360 degree pattern … Each time a blow was struck, the blood would fly.”
Richard Oland was killed by 45 blows, mostly to his head, from a weapon that had both a sharp edge and a round, hammer-like side.
Looking at an autopsy photo of the 69-year-old’s battered head, Laturnus noted the weapon was swung with enough force to “split the skull.” Although the weapon was never found, he said it was likely a short-handled instrument.
He said the perpetrator would have bent over the victim to strike blows.
“It would have put spatter on the assailant,” he said.
Despite an extensive police search of the automobile Dennis Oland was driving when he left his father’s office on the day of the murder, July 6, 2011, no blood was found in the vehicle.
As well, no blood was detected on other items Oland would have handled immediately upon leaving the office, including his cellphone and a bag he was carrying.
The only blood detected on Oland’s clothing were four small bloodstains on the brown jacket he was wearing when he visited his father. Three of the stains were matched to Richard Oland’s DNA but analysts were unable to determine when the blood stained the jacket.
Dennis Oland was expected to testify later in the day.
The 51-year-old businessman is accused of bludgeoning father in a rage over money problems.
The investment adviser was charged with his father’s murder in 2013 and has steadfastly maintained his innocence.
He was convicted in a jury trial in 2015, but that verdict was set aside on appeal in 2016 and the new trial ordered.