Grandparents of bomb victim say justice served

RECORD PHOTOS BY AUSTIN GRABISH

Alice Shachtay holds printed news stories sent from relatives who kept her updated on the Malley trial.

By Austin Grabish, the Selkirk Record

John and Alice Shachtay were relieved but hardly aghast when they picked up the phone and found out the news last Tuesday.

An Alberta jury found Brian Malley, 57, guilty of first-degree murder in relation to the horrific killing of their granddaughter Victoria Shachtay.

Shachtay, a 23-year-old single mother, was killed instantly in her wheelchair after she opened a pipe bomb disguised as a Christmas gift on her Innisfail, Alta. doorstep in 2011.

Malley, her former financial adviser, was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Jurors on the five-week trial heard evidence Shachtay, who was injured in a car crash, had been awarded a financial settlement worth more than half a million dollars and entrusted the funds with Malley.  

But instead of investing the cash and helping it grow Malley lost all of the money and was paying Shachtay with his own money, court heard.

The defence argued Malley had no reason to kill Shachtay and had given her money out of kindness because her investment was depleting due to extreme spending combined with an economic downturn.

But the Crown successfully argued Malley needed to cut his losses short by killing Shachtay.

It took jurors less than six-and-a-half hours to find Malley guilty. 

John and Alice Shachtay reacted to the news in an interview with the Record Saturday afternoon.

“We are happy now boy,” said John Shachtay, 96.

“We are happy that it’s over.” 

“I know it doesn’t bring her back but it kind of relieves us a bit,” added Alice Shachtay, 86.

“He should have thought twice before he done it.”

The Shachtays were keeping a close eye on the trial through daily emails sent from relatives.

Victor Shachtay, the couple’s son and father to the late Victoria, called his parents last Tuesday to inform them of the jury’s verdict.

“He says well dad it’s all over,” John recalls his son saying.

John Shachtay looks at photos of Brian Malley.  

Both John and Alice said they went to bed knowing justice was served.

“I’m happy he got what he deserved,” John said.

Dealing with the senseless loss of their granddaughter put the elderly couple on an emotional rollercoaster the last few years.

“I’ll be honest I couldn’t sleep,” John said.

“Sometimes we’d sit up and talk for hours you know,” added Alice.

The couple who lives north of Selkirk has fond memories of their granddaughter whom they refer to as Vicky.

“We used to always meet at the Smitty’s (in Selkirk),” said Alice.

But their granddaughter’s murder still haunts the couple regularly and knowing their great granddaughter Destiny is without a mother sickens the two.

“It’s still hurting us,” Alice said.

“It’s a hard break,” adds John.

Malley will not be eligible for parole until he is 82.

The former financial adviser is also facing an $80 million class-action lawsuit from former clients who allege he lost their retirement savings.

Those allegations have not been proven in court. 

Brian Malley.

-- First published in the Selkirk Record print edition March 5, 2015 p.6