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Jul 05, 2024
"We are just making the plays we are supposed to make," said Rolan Milligan.
Justice Richard Danyliuk said no sentence will bring back Sheree Fertuck, but he will not lose one second of sleep knowing that Greg Fertuck will be behind bars for at least 20 more years.
On Thursday at Saskatoon’s Court of King’s Bench, Fertuck was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility to apply for parole until he is approximately 90 years old for the first-degree murder of his estranged wife.
“You are a cold, callous, and heartless killer,” Danyliuk said as he made his ruling.
In addition, Fertuck received four years to serve concurrently with his life sentence for offering an indignity to human remains.
“You know you did this. I know you did this. Now everyone knows you did this,” Danyliuk said, adding Sheree’s life was taken away over money, dominance, and Fertuck not getting his way.
The gravel pit where Sheree Fertuck worked, along with her abandoned semi truck and trailer. (Court of King’s Bench)
“You acted like a petulant two-year-old in a man’s body able to do real harm.”
Danyliuk expressed his sympathy for the family who have waited for answers in Sheree’s disappearance.
“Long after you have been forgotten,” Danyliuk said to Fertuck, “long after you’re at most a footnote in legal history… people will remember Sheree Fertuck.”
Several victim impact statements were submitted to the court on Thursday, and two were read aloud by Sheree’s sisters Teaka White and Glenda Sorotski.
Sorotski said when her sister disappeared, she had a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, and that hope turned into repeated disappointment when Sheree’s remains were never found.
A file photo of Sheree Fertuck.
Sorotski described the emptiness the family has felt because Sheree’s life was “callously cut short.”
Sortoski’s impact statement also spoke for her mother Julianne Sorotski, who died of cancer a few years after Sheree’s disappearance in 2015.
“She suffered in silence, alone, awake at night, living with the nightmares,” Sorotski said about her mother.
Teaka White was emotional as she read her impact statement that said she will never have closure until her sister’s remains are found.
Outside of the courthouse, White said there is some closure in the sense that justice has been served, but that she wants to give her sister the proper resting place she deserves.
Fertuck, who represented himself, argued that the evidence from the Crown was circumstantial and not proven in court.
According to Fertuck, his confession to undercover officers during a Mr. Big sting operation was a lie.
“Normally, people get paid for making up stories and novels, not thrown into remand,” Fertuck said.
“I’ve got no remorse because I never ever did commit a crime,” was his final statement to the judge. “I’ve been wrongly accused, and I will prove my innocence in the appeal.”
Sorotski explained that Fertuck challenging the verdict and lack of remorse is telling of his character.
“He’s evil. He’s evil to the core, and he’s going to continue to deny what he’s done,” she said.
Crown Prosecutor Cory Bliss says he was hoping Greg Fertuck would show remorse when addressing the court on Thurs., July 4, 2024. (Mia Holowaychuk/650 CKOM)
“I was hopeful that (Fertuck) might express some remorse to the family, (and) that he might show some compassion,” Crown Prosecutor Cory Bliss said outside of the courthouse Thursday.
Fertuck’s trial began in September 2021 after delays due to the pandemic, with more delays after Fertuck’s lawyer asked to withdraw from the case after Fertuck complained to the Law Society without their knowledge.
“Justice, like a river, doesn’t always take a straight path, it runs its path but ultimately it gets to the result,” Bliss said.