Two victims spoke in court Tuesday, and talked about the harrowing experience of what happened in a downtown office building during the hours-long hostage-taking in the fall of 2009.
Patrick Clayton faced a total of eighteen charges, and pleaded guilty to three of them after a ten-hour hostage-taking and standoff at the WCB building in October 2009.
The sentencing hearing into the standoff continued Tuesday, with a former WCB employee and the last hostage released taking the stand.
They read their victim impact statements, shedding light on how the experience has affected them.
Nicole Ferguson managed to escape from the eighth floor that day – but is still dealing with the fallout of that traumatic day.
She said in her statement her constant fear and nightmares, and the exhaustion and post-traumatic stress disorder she developed afterwards prompted her employer, the Workers' Compensation Board, to end her employment.
The final line of her statement read: "I often feel it would have been better if I had been shot dead."
The final hostage released that day also gave his statement Tuesday – and he showed some compassion for the accused.
"I'm a client [of the WCB], as well as a victim [of the hostage-taking]," Randy Morrow said. "Quite honestly I still feel like a hostage."
He said that day he thought he had witnessed a murder, and was about to die.
However, he said at the end he did his best to save the life of the man with the gun.
"A lot of time people go through their entire life, not knowing who they are," Morrow said. "This gave me a good opportunity to see who I am and at the end of the day I was quite proud."
Clayton is expected to take the stand in his sentencing hearing later this week.
With files from David Ewasuk
