George Brake, the man recently cleared of threatening to kill politicians, is telling his side of his story to VOCM News.
Brake denies ever threatening anyone on the morning of Tuesday, January 26, when he raced to Deer Lake in his truck with a case full of knives.
“I was pissed off, there’s no doubt about it. I was pissed off.”
The 68-year-old Brake says it was all one big misunderstanding and stemmed from a dispute with his town council.
Initial reports were of a man speeding to Deer Lake with a plan to execute politicians in a bid to stop the election. He was said to have three dozen knives with his sights set on the premier or PC candidate Jim Goudie.
(RCMP display a series of 36 knives seized from the truck being driven by George Brake.)
Brake admits he believes Canadian elections are rigged, and that he was headed for Goudie’s law office. But it turns out Goudie is also Brake’s lawyer, and the client had matters to discuss.
Brakes says reports that he claimed to be God were also wrong, but not far off.
“I did announce myself as being one of God’s witnesses and I’m acting as his drill sergeant.”
Brake was found mentally fit to stand trial and pleaded not guilty to everything, but was denied bail after a judge said it was too risky to release him. But in the end, the Crown dropped the charges involving death threats and 36 knives that Brake says he was trying to sell to make ends meet.
He was convicted of dangerous driving and flight from police, and sentenced to the time he served at the Pen while awaiting trial.
Meanwhile, Brake, who lives alone in Shoal Brook and suffers from COPD, wants a review of the RCMP’s actions and assumptions that day.
