Mother awarded $6.6 million by court

The mother of one of the victims in a double homicide on January 23, 2008, in Marshfield has been awarded $6,624,000 in a wrongful death suit. The action was brought against Richard W. Widdecombe Jr. by Ray Ann Wilder of Dennysville, Katie Cabana's mother and the personal representative of Cabana's estate, and Justice E. Allen Hunter handed down the decision on May 5 in Washington County Superior Court in Machias.

Widdecombe, now 29, is in the Maine State Prison for the shooting deaths of ex-girlfriend Cabana inside her Route 192 home and her friend Aaron Settipani, 41, who was in his jeep outside the residence.

"We had to do something," says Wilder of the wrongful death suit. "Katie was a beautiful young woman who loved her children, and Richard Widdecombe has no compassion. No remorse. He deserves to be where he is. We don't know what we'll collect, but we don't want him to make a penny out of what he did."

"It was pre-meditated, and it's devastated our lives," she adds.

After the wrongful death suit was brought against Widdecombe in November 2009, he acted as his own counsel and was granted extra time to file his answer to Wilder's complaint but failed to respond.

A hearing on the damages was held on April 5, 2010, and Widdecombe participated by video conferencing from prison. Testifying were Cabana's mother, her sister Tamara Wilder and Nicole Jamieson, manager of the Washington County Career Center. The court also received Widdecombe's transcript of a January 11, 2010, deposition.

Evidence established that the defendant murdered Katie Cabana on January 23, 2008, by shooting her to death at point blank range with a high-powered rifle. The court listened to the audio recording of the 911 telephone call that Cabana placed to emergency personnel at the time of her death, and court documents say, "The evidence is clear that immediately prior to her death, Ms. Cabana could see the defendant as he approached her in her home with the weapon in his hands. She was fully aware of the defendant's obvious lethal intentions. It is clear from the 911 audio recording that as she begged him not to shoot her, Ms. Cabana was terrorized to the extreme by the defendant's actions."

"Ms. Cabana's mental distress was not limited to fear for her personal safety; she was also terrified for the safety of her three small children who were frightened and crying just a few feet away as they witnessed the unfolding horror," reads the judgment.

"Katie Cabana's death was not instantaneous. Although measured in minutes rather than hours, during the time period between receiving her fatal wound and expiring, she suffered conscious pain from the multiple gunshots the defendant inflicted upon her. Her physical suffering was of incredible magnitude. Her mental suffering was also of incredible magnitude and of longer duration."

The court noted that, at the time of her death, Katie Cabana was married to Steven Cabana, and they had no children together. The two had separated and were pursuing a divorce. She was a loving mother to her three children, nine-year-old Gabe, six-year-old Autumn who suffered a foot wound in the attack, and five-year-old Ethan. She had good relationships with her mother and two sisters, Kristie and Tamara. Cabana was not working outside the home at the time of her death, but she was enrolled in a local college studying business management and was within a year of getting her degree. She had aspirations of becoming a teacher.

The court decision states, "Maine law requires that damages be fact based and proved by a preponderance of the evidence. They may not be determined upon the basis of speculation." Keeping that in mind, the court awarded the maximum allowable amount of $500,000 to the plaintiff for the "loss of the comfort, society and companionship of a decedent."

Ray Ann Wilder was also granted $624,000 for her daughter's lost earnings. Damage awards may not be based on conjecture or speculation, but because "Ms. Cabana was working toward a degree suggests that she did contemplate getting into the work force in the future. Aided by this evidence, the court feels that it could estimate that Ms. Cabana could have secured some kind of employment at least at minimum wage. Aided by her college credits and possibly by a degree, it's fair to estimate that her wage rate would be a little higher."

The plaintiff was also awarded $250,000, the highest amount possible in Maine, in punitive damages against the defendant. "Maine law allows the imposition of punitive damages in cases where the defendant's conduct has been motivated by ill will or malice toward the victim... In this case, the evidence clearly supports an award of substantial punitive damages" and "expresses society's disapproval of intolerable conduct," reported the court.

Ray Ann Wilder asked for and was granted $5 million in damages for the conscious pain and suffering and for the mental distress that her daughter suffered prior to her death.

Noted the court, "While the audio recording in this matter could not completely convey Ms. Cabana's level of physical suffering, it provides a sufficient basis for the court to infer the level of that suffering. With chilling and unmistakable clarity, the audio recording establishes the incredible fear that the defendant inflicted upon Ms. Cabana and it is beyond doubt that Ms. Cabana suffered mental distress of the highest magnitude prior to her death."

Ray Ann Wilder says she wasn't surprised at the amount of damages granted by Justice Hunter. "He seemed like a very compassionate and empathetic man."

Wilder, whose world has turned upside down, urges anyone who has been abused by a partner or sees someone else being abused to call for help. "It needs to be reported. It's a crime."

"We're all still hurting and devastated at what happened to our family," she points out. "It's like tentacles reaching out into every part of your life. Nothing is the same any more."