MacRae imprisoned for murdering Paula Gallant

The husband of a popular Timberlea schoolteacher will spend at least the next fifteen years in prison after pleading guilty Wednesday to second-degree murder in her death.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the couple argued about a credit card debt on December 27, 2005. Shortly afterward, MacRae approached Gallant from behind as she sat at the computer and hit her in the back of the head with a piece of lumber.

Link: Agreed statement of facts in R vs MacRae

She rose to her feet and screamed. MacRae grabbed his wife around the neck and pushed her into the laundry room, strangling her for minutes until she wet herself, passed out and was gurgling. As he strangled her, he could hear the couple’s daughter on the baby monitor as she awoke from a nap.

MacRae confessed that he wrapped plastic wrap around Paula’s face to be sure she wasn’t breathing. He left the plastic on for about 20 minutes, covering her body with a sheet.

MacRae went up stairs and fed the child.

He then wrapped the body in a sheet, put it in the trunk of Gallant’s car and drove to Beechville-Lakeside-Elementary school where Gallant taught, parked the car and walked home. That happened as their daughter sat alone in her high chair.

A first-degree murder conviction carries a life sentence with a minimum parole ineligibility of 25 years. Judge Kevin Coady emphasized today that the sentence for second-degree murder is also life, but the judge can determine the period of parole ineligibility.

After presentations from the Crown and defense — asking for 20 and 12 years, respectively — the Judge returned to say that based on his analysis of case law and factors of the case and MacRae’s character, MacRae will serve at least 15 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

MacRae was arrested in August 2010 and charged with first-degree murder.

Beechville residents tell News 95.7 today they’re not surprised by news of MacRae’s plea.

“Like many other people in the community, I’ve been suspicious for some time,” said one woman.

Pleading guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder could make MacRae eligible for parole in 10 years.

That concerns Ollie, a man who knew both Gallant and MacRae.

“He should take first-degree murder, period,” he said. “Ten years is no good. There’s kids involved, he’s got a little girl. It’s not a good scene and there’s a lot of people in the community who loved Paula.”

MacRae’s confession was actually part of a long and extensive undercover police operation that began in October 2009. Operatives convinced MacRae that they were with a crime organization. In April 2010, MacRae quit his day job to work full-time for the imagined crime syndicate. That summer, MacRae told his imagined crime colleagues, on video, the details of the murder, even re-enacting his movements at the crime scenes.

At a news conference after MacRae was arrested, investigators said new information came to light in the spring of 2009 that helped lead to the arrest and the subsequent charges. Halifax Police Chief Frank Beazley wouldn’t say what that information was.

“The new information wasn’t going to put somebody before the court. So we had to build an investigative approach to it to get the necessary information (to lay the charge),” said Beazley.

“The cost of the investigation was described as “considerable” by RCMP Supt. Darrell S. Beaton. “At any given time here in the past twelve months there was a dedicated team of resources upwards of fifteen officers working on a file such as this.”

MacRae later waived his right to a preliminary inquiry and elected to be tried by judge and jury.