Advertisement 1

Bomb hoarder’s elderly wife fights to keep her home

Article content

BARRIE, Ont. — A prominent lawyer is outraged that a "frail little old lady" may be booted out of her home because the Attorney General wants to seize it.

"For the state to take the home of this elderly, frail lady, it is deeply troubling," lawyer Bernard Cugelman said outside of court Tuesday.

Last month the woman's husband, Willy Feldhoff, 77, was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison after he was found guilty of keeping an arsenal of bombs, booby traps and explosives used for chemical warfare stashed throughout his home and in a backyard bunker. Court heard he was obsessed with the coming of a world war.

Police, bomb experts and fire officials evacuated his neighborhood and spent 12 days at a cost of almost $300,000 to dismantle the hidden stashes.

About $100,000 worth of damage was done to the home after walls, stairways and floors were ripped away in search of hidden weapon — a cost the Feldhoffs must cover.

With her home in shambles after the search, Feldhoff’s wife Anette, 79, fell and badly bruised her face and arms.

But the home is all they own, said Cugelman, who calls the government's forfeiture laws "a licence to steal."

"If the Crown succeeds, where is his wife going to go?"

Feldhoff came on the police radar two years ago, when his son, Donald, confessed to the 1978 cold-case shooting death of Michael Traynor, 26, of Painswick, Ont. The son also told police of his father's deadly stash.

Both men have been in jail since then, charged with murder and conspiracy to hide a body.

On Tuesday, a judge ordered the son back to bail court.

He is now charged with possession of child pornography videos and pictures that police allegedly seized from his home.

 

Article content
Advertisement 2
Advertisement
Article content
Article content
Latest National Stories
    This Week in Flyers