Grandparents of bomb victim relieved accused finally on trial

Selkirk-area couple struggle with senseless death; learning to deal with loss

RECORD PHOTOS BY AUSTIN GRABISH

Alice and John Shachtay are relieved the trial of their granddaughter’s accused killer has begun. Vicky Shachtay, 23, seen in the above pictures, was killed after she opened a bomb disguised as a Christmas gift.

By Austin Grabish, The Selkirk Record

The grandparents of a disabled woman who was killed after opening a bomb disguised as a Christmas present are thankful their granddaughter’s accused killer is finally on trial.

Brian Malley’s seven-week jury trial began last Monday in Red Deer, Alta.

Malley, 57, faces charges of first-degree murder, causing an explosion of an explosive substance likely to cause serious bodily harm, and sending a person an explosive device in relation to the 2011 killing of Victoria Shachtay.

Malley has pleaded not guilty to the charges and he is presumed innocent.

Shachtay’s grandparents, Alice and John Shachtay, who live north of Selkirk, read daily newspaper reports on the trial.

“It’s a little hard but at the beginning it was harder,” said Alice Shachtay, Victoria’s grandma.

“Now it’s starting to kind of wear off so that I can at least now read it. Before I couldn’t read half of it and I was crying.”

But the elderly couple quickly sobs when looking at a picture of their granddaughter, whom they refer to as Vicky.  

Vicky Shachtay was a young, 23-year-old single mother who was killed after she opened a gun-powdered pipe bomb left on her Innisfail doorstep. The bomb was put into a Christmas box with her name on it, an Alberta jury heard last week. 

Malley was arrested in Red Deer in 2012 in relation to the explosion that killed Shachtay a year earlier.

Alberta prosecutor Anders Quist said DNA found on the package is consistent with Malley’s.

The prosecutor said over the course of the trial the Crown intends to call witnesses who will testify Malley purchased items needed to make the pipe bomb, which killed Shachtay.

He added he will call witnesses who found the materials used to make a pipe bomb in Malley’s residence.

Quist said after Shachtay got into a car crash in 2004, she received a $575,000 settlement and Malley helped her invest it.

But all of that money was gone in four years, he said.

Quist said after the settlement money was gone, Malley supported Shachtay from his own personal accounts to the tune of $44,000.

The Red Deer Express reported Quist telling a court, “Our theory is that Mr. Malley killed her to cut his losses.”

Defense lawyer Bob Aloneissi said evidence the defense will produce will raise reasonable doubt Malley was involved in Shachtay’s murder.

Media reports say Aloneissi plans to show some of Shachtay’s relatives had addiction problems and the real killer was someone who wanted to send a message to Shachtay or her family.

Malley had no control of Shachtay’s finances and said those close to her knew she was going broke quick, Aloneissi told the court.

While lawyers battle it out in court Alice and John cherish memories of Vicky. 

“Vicky was with us once and a while,” said Alice Shachtay.

“She was very quiet, she liked to be by herself for most of the time that I could see,” Shachtay said.

“She wasn’t a person to be like some kids and jump around.”

John Shachtay said regardless of the trial’s outcome he has a desperate plea to the public.

“You put in that paper, in Selkirk paper, warn the public when they get the parcel, strange parcel, do not open, phone the RCMP or authority or something,” Shachtay told a Record reporter.

“Because kids could go there and grab it without knowing. We lost one life already we don’t want to lose anymore.”

Vicky Shachtay (left) and her young daughter.

-- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition January 29, 2015 p.12