Jurors saw two lengthy RCMP videos of accused murderer Beryl Musila in her own words this week, where she offered contradictory statements on what unfolded the night a St. Albert senior was murdered.
Musila, 33, is on trial for first-degree murder in the July 7, 2017 stabbing and bludgeoning death of St. Albert senior Ron Worsfold. Musila pleaded guilty at the trial’s start to indecent interference with the remains of St. Albert resident Worsfold, 75.
The Crown maintains Musila drugged and then bludgeoned and fatally stabbed Worsfold in his home before packing him into a Rubbermaid tote, moving him to several locations in the St. Albert region and then dumping the tote in a makeshift dump site at a home in rural Parkland County.
As the Crown’s case drew towards its close in the now six week-long trial, the jury saw videos of the RCMP interviewing Musila after she was arrested in connection with the crimes.
In a July 10, 2017 interview with Insp. Heidi Ravenhill, a day after her arrest and three days after Worsfold's death, Musila outlined a number of relationships in which she said she was a victim. She said she was caught between two lonely, possessive men, Robert Rafters and the murder victim, Worsfold. At the time of his death, Musila was staying with Worsfold in his home and was dating Robert Rafters, the Crown says.
Court heard during the July 10 interview Musila repeatedly implicate Rafters as a mastermind who directed her activities and sometimes participated in the events on the night of the murder, either in person, or by phone.
Rafters testified in court earlier during trial and said he was unknowingly helping Musila move the Rubbermaid container containing Worsfold's remains. Rafters is not facing any charges in the death of Worsfold.
Musila alleged that Rafters gave her Ativan and told her to drug Worsfold by putting it in the senior's drink. Later in the interview Musila alleges Rafters told her to cut out parts of the bloody carpet from the crime scene where Worsfold was murdered.
The court heard Musila say in the interview that Rafters made her hurt Worsfold.
In different sections of the interview between RCMP and Musila, the accused made contradictory statements about what unfolded the night of Worsfold's death. In the recorded interview, court heard Musila say at different points she didn’t want to kill Worsfold, she refused to kill him, she didn’t know how to kill him, she missed with the knife, someone threatened her life unless she killed him, and someone else killed him when she couldn’t, and she called Rafters after Worsfold was stabbed, and there was no possible way she killed him.
Insp. Ravenhill repeatedly returned to the weapons in the case, which Musila said someone else brought to her.
“You’ve told me about a hammer and you’ve told me about a knife. Which one did you use to kill him?” Insp. Ravenhill asked during the interview.
“In all honesty, I used both. I used both but I just … I don’t know, like I used both…” Musila said.
Asked which weapon she used first, Musila said she didn’t know.
“It just happened so fast,” she said.
The court heard Musila say after the killing, she called Rafters on the phone, told him she was tired and she couldn’t “do this anymore,” and asked for him to stop by in the morning. Musila alleged Rafters helped her get the 128-pound Worsfold into the tote.
At one point, when Worsfold’s body was in the tote, Musila said she still wanted to help the victim.
“I thought he was still alive … I just wanted to get him out,” she said.
Court heard Musila say Rafters told her he was going to come and burn the apartment down because it contained his fingerprints. In earlier testimony, Rafters denied being in the Worsfold apartment at all that weekend, and having prior knowledge of the large tote’s grisly contents.
The court heard Musila say putting Worsfold in the tote was Rafters’ idea as was taking the full tote to “as many places as possible.”
Hauling the tote and other containers via taxis and pickup trucks from St. Albert to Edmonton to Morinville and finally to a residence and makeshift dump site in rural Parkland County was other people’s idea, she said at several places in the recordings.
“They just told me to move it around … as much as possible.”
“I feel like I was just doing what they were telling me.”
Musilla told Insp. Ravenhill she had been set up.
“I feel like you guys are the police and you’ll figure it out. I just feel like I was kind of, in a way, set up. I really do,” she said.
She referred to several prescription drugs she had been prescribed. In the July 9, 2017 recorded interview with RCMP Musila said she had a sleeping disorder, paranoia, anxiety, and psychosis brought on by lack of sleep.
She said her psychiatrist gave her pills for these ailments, and that she’d both stopped seeing her psychiatrist and stopped taking her prescribed medicines for those ailments two weeks previously.
“… I replaced it with drinking and not taking my medication … I’m not helping myself …” she said.
Near the beginning of the July 10, 2017 questioning, she discussed the influence of addiction on her behaviour.
“I’ve had addictions before, but nothing like this … I was able to function, I was able to do things…. “ she said.
She cited calls to mental health experts, like a psychiatrist, as well as to men she knew and trusted, all made when she was trying to get help.
“I needed help, I just turned to the wrong people. I feel so humiliated,” she said, weeping.
Musila said she suffered from paranoia and repeated episodes of crippling fear.
“I let my fear … things distort my judgment,” she said. “I went through a lot and I … should have gotten the right kind of help,” she said.
Several times in her account, Musila expressed regret, weeping.
“I just want to go back and just … use my head. I should have called for help … I wanted the police so many times … I just felt so trapped … F---. … I’m so sorry,” she said.
“I’ll never, ever, ever forgive myself. I can’t live with myself,” she said, weeping.
Musila, now 33, pleaded guilty at trial’s start to indecently interfering with Worsfold’s stabbed and bludgeoned remains. She watched quietly and took notes as her younger self talked in a low voice, projected on screens around the front of the courtroom, initially assuring the RCMP she knew nothing about his disappearance or whereabouts, or if he was alive or dead.
The trial is in its sixth week, and is expected to go through June 16.
