A St. John’s judge says a former police officer lied to protect himself and a colleague when he testified at the trial for a fellow Mountie more than two years ago.
Judge Mike Madden found Paul Durdle, 42, guilty of perjury on Friday at provincial court in St. John’s. A second charge of obstruction was dropped at the onset of Durdle’s trial.
The charges, which were laid by the province’s Serious Incident Response Team in 2024, stemmed from the former constable’s testimony for the defence at the trial of Const. Michael Wheeler a year earlier.
Wheeler was later convicted of careless use of a firearm and pointing a firearm at a person. Wheeler had put his gun to the head of Durdle’s now-former girlfriend, while he was off-duty at a social gathering where Durdle was present.
The court heard that Wheeler and Durdle’s now-former girlfriend had been wrestling and drinking at Durdle’s house on Bell Island in 2018, when Wheeler pulled his gun on the woman and said, “Not so tough now, are you?”
Wheeler was in uniform and had just gotten off duty that same night.
Durdle denied the incident happened when he testified at Wheeler’s trial.
The Crown submitted that Durdle deliberately lied with an intent to mislead on five different points during his testimony, in an effort to help his colleague and his own internal code of conduct proceeding.
At the time, the RCMP had suspended Durdle for not reporting the incident at his home to police.
Madden ultimately found guilt in three of the five matters, including Durdle’s denial of seeing the service weapon in his home, the reason for his code of conduct matters with the RCMP, and his denial of seeing Durdle’s former partner and Wheeler wrestling.
Durdle testified he did not see Wheeler’s duty belt — which includes the officer’s gun — at his home. That’s despite testimony from Wheeler himself that it was present.
“I don’t believe Durdle did not see the gun in his house,” Madden said.
“I find he was lying to protect Mr. Wheeler and therefore himself.”
The defence suggested that Durdle didn’t intentionally lie and was recalling memories from years earlier.
Durdle, who is no longer with the force, is expected to return to court in March for sentencing.
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