WARNING: Court proceedings include allegations of sexual assault and might affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone who’s been affected.
The man accused of raping vulnerable Calgary women turned his rented Quonset hut into “the worst crack shack you’ve ever seen in your life,” according to the property owner, who testified that more than 37,000 pounds of garbage was removed from his acreage after Richard Mantha’s arrest.
Mantha, 61, faces 20 charges, accused of victimizing seven women, six of whom worked in Calgary’s sex trade. His offences include sexual assault with a weapon, administering noxious substances and kidnapping.
Mantha’s trial began in January 2024 but was derailed, first when he fired his lawyers halfway through the trial and then again after he suffered a stroke in May 2024.
The trial resumed Tuesday with testimony from Paul Lock, who owns an acreage in Rockyview County between Chestermere and Langdon where Mantha rented a Quonset hut from late 2021 until his arrest in June 2023.
Justice Judith Shriar has already heard from several women who said they were victimized inside Mantha’s RV, which was stored in the Quonset.
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Lock testified that by the time Mantha was arrested, the two were “no longer on talking terms” to the point that he avoided the rented Quonset because “one of us was going to end up in jail for killing the other.”
Although renting to Mantha had become a nightmare, Lock said he had no idea how bad the situation inside the Quonset was until police arrived to search the property.
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Mantha was, according to Lock, “probably the worst hoarder that I’ve ever met in my life.”
“He considered himself ‘the Highway Hobo.’ So if it wasn’t bolted down, he’d take it,” Lock told prosecutor Dominique Mathurin.
Lock said that since 2023, he’s paid $33,000 to clean up his property, which involved removing 37,426 lb. (16,976 kg) of garbage, including some biohazard waste.
Police took several days to haul all of Mantha’s property out of the Quonset in the course of executing a search warrant in connection with the sex assault allegations.
“My backyard looked like a landfill,” said Lock.
Mantha’s landlord described finding 200 crack pipes, buckets of human waste, dead animals, bags of clothing, scrap metal and wood, bricks, tiles, construction materials, tools and a shopping cart.
There were also several scrap cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Mantha also angered Lock by bringing women to the property.
“He was not to bring people there but he did, that’s why we were at odds,” said Lock.
“I know what an addict looks like … he was bringing them to my property to party or whatever they were doing, I’m not sure.”
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Justin Dean, Lock agreed that the majority of his animosity toward Mantha came after his arrest.
“Yes, because the sanctuary turned into a sewage hole,” said Lock.
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Two weeks have been set aside to complete the trial. A fifth complainant is scheduled to testify in the coming days.
Mantha’s stroke has left him unable to speak in full sentences.
An application to have him deemed medically unfit to stand trial failed. Mantha is now using an iPad to communicate with his lawyer.
