Dennis Oland's 'cash flow' problems not new, murder retrial hears

Dennis Oland had fallen behind in repaying loans from his father several times over the years, but Richard Oland was never overly concerned, his murder retrial in Saint John heard on Friday.

The elder Oland hadn't even inquired about the status of his most recent $538,000 loan for at least "six months to a year" before he was killed, Robert McFadden, his longtime business associate and chartered accountant, testified.

On Thursday, the court heard the multimillionaire had attached three "conditions" to the 2008-09 loan that never got fulfilled before he was bludgeoned to death in 2011.

But under cross-examination by the defence Friday, McFadden said he hadn't "expressed any dissatisfaction" to him in the preceding months about the mortgage, domestic agreement and right of first refusal contracts not being finalized.

"I don't recall him saying, you know, 'Why hasn't it been done?'"

Defence lawyer Michael Lacy pointed out that dealing with the matter was not one of the six items listed on the office "to-do" list that week either.

Oland, 50, is being retried for second-degree murder in his father's death. ​The Crown has suggested his mounting debt was a possible motive, but the defence contends his money struggles were nothing new.

A jury found Oland guilty in 2015. He is the last person known to have seen the prominent businessman alive when he visited him at his investment firm office on the evening of July 6, 2011.

Thank you for your help in my time of need.- Dennis Oland 

The body of the 69-year-old was found in his office the next morning. He had suffered 45 sharp- and blunt-force injuries to his head, neck and hands.

The New Brunswick Court of Appeal overturned Oland's conviction in 2016, citing an error in the trial judge's instructions to the jury. He is being retried in Saint John's Court of Queen's Bench by judge alone.

The proceedings are scheduled to resume on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

On Friday, McFadden said Oland helped his son out with a "series" of loans during "cash flow" problems in 2008-09, when he was going through a costly divorce from his first wife.

He recalled only one occasion where the accused returned the money he had borrowed. It was $10,000 in May 2008, which his father expected to paid back by the end of June.

His first cheque was refused by the bank and bounced, said McFadden, but he sent another one, along with a handwritten thank you note, dated June 10, which Lacy displayed on a large monitor in the courtroom.

"Dad, please accept this cheque as a repayment for the loan forwarded to me last month," Oland wrote. "Thank you for your help in my time of need."

Even before his divorce, Oland had "cash crunches," the courtroom heard. Lacy asked McFadden about a mortgage Oland had with his father for a property he had purchased adjacent to his Rothesay home in 1999.

Under the contract terms, Oland was supposed to make annual payments of about $11,000, said McFadden, but he missed one around 2002-2003, then again in 2007 and 2008.

His father accommodated the first missed payment by extending the mortgage by a year, said McFadden.

The other two payments were left in default until around 2008-09, when the property was sold to one of his father's companies, Kingshurst Estates, as part of the $538,000 divorce bailout, he said.

"So it all got worked out basically?" asked Lacy.

"Yes," said McFadden.

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