In early January, Finck told next-door neighbour Jeremy Moeller that he’d found a “safe house” for Carline VandenElsen and their baby while he fought an ongoing legal battle, which Moeller later found out was with the Children’s Aid Society.

“He did allude to the fact that some of this was related to having to seek treatment for mental illness, and he said that wasn’t going to happen,” Moeller testified yesterday, the first day of Finck and VandenElsen’s preliminary inquiry.

“He had brought his wife and child to a safe house and he was going to keep them there until he fought this through whatever means necessary.”

Moeller’s wife, Elizabeth Moeller, told Judge Castor Williams that in late April, Finck told her he planned to leave the country July 1 with his wife and child.

“He (said) that he had secured new identification for himself, his wife and his baby,” Elizabeth Moeller said.

Finck, 50, and VandenElsen, 41, were charged in May with keeping police at bay outside their 6161 Shirley St. home with a shotgun for three days, in an attempt to keep their baby from being taken by Children’s Aid.

Usually, details of the witnesses’ testimony during a preliminary inquiry is banned from publication to protect an accused person’s right to a fair trial. But both Finck and VandenElsen opposed Crown attorney Rick Woodburn’s request for a ban, so Williams didn’t order it.

Both Finck and VandenElsen have elected to be tried by a judge and jury.

Two Halifax Regional Police officers testified yesterday that a team of plainclothes officers watched the comings and goings from the Shirley Street house on Jan. 16 and May 18 in an attempt to figure out whether Finck and VandenElsen had the baby. The first time, they shadowed a man to a home at Downs Avenue, but didn’t see VandenElsen or the infant.

The second time, Const. Dennis Crowell testified he saw Finck and VandenElsen in the home’s kitchen at 10:25 p.m., holding the baby. Police called Children’s Aid workers and when they arrived, began pounding on the door just after midnight.

Sgt. James Butler testified police could see Finck pulling a toolbox against the door and could hear the sounds of hammering from inside. Then a side window was smashed. When emergency response team members tried to break the door down, a shot rang out.

The hearing will continue today.

rboomer@hfxnews.ca