SASKATOON - About a month and a half after he was found guilty in a Saskatoon courtroom of murdering his estranged wife in a gravel pit near the village of Kenaston back in 2015, Greg Fertuck has now filed notice of his intention to appeal his conviction and mandatory life sentence.
In his appeal notice that was dated July 26, Fertuck claims that the judge during his trial "did not properly consider the evidence and only listened to the Crown's argument."
The victim in the case, Fertuck's wife Sheree, went missing on Dec. 7, 2015, after heading out to a gravel pit near Kenaston in her semi truck. Confessions heard during the judge-alone trial at Saskatoon's Court of King's Bench included Greg telling undercover police officers that he had shot Sheree in her shoulder, followed by shooting her in the back of her head during an argument the two were having over money at the Kenaston-area gravel pit on that December day in 2015.
Greg, 71 years old, was arrested in June of 2019.
Standing convicted of first-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains on June 14, Justice Richard Danyliuk concluded that Fertuck had shot Sheree twice at the gravel pit and then used a loader to transport her body into his truck before hiding her body in a bluff of trees northeast of the pit. For his crimes, Danyliuk sentenced Greg Fertuck to a mandatory life sentence with no parole eligibility for 25 years.
Throughout the duration of his trial, Fertuck maintained his innocence and made claims that he had fabricated the story of killing Sheree so that he would be accepted into what he believed was a criminal organization. In reality, he was confessing to undercover police officers who were operating a 'Mr. Big' sting operation.
The filing of a notice of appeal does not automatically generate an appeal hearing, and Saskatchewan’s Court of Appeal requires applicants to provide written arguments typically done through a lawyer before a hearing is officially scheduled.
Fertuck has made indications that he intends to hire Saskatoon defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle. In his appeal notice, Fertuck indicated that he wants to be retried by a judge and jury.
Greg Fertuck has said that he has no remorse because he claims that he did not commit a crime, believing that he is being wrongly accused before telling the Saskatoon courtroom that he intended to prove his innocence in an appeal before he was sentenced earlier this summer.
To date, Sheree Fertuck's remains have never been found.
