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The White Debonair
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A Canadian Serial killer's trial started today. Robert Pickton is accused of killing 26 women (this trial deals with the first 6) and could possibly have killed as many as 49 women. That would break North Americans held by the Rigway killer whcih is about 44 or 45.
*Warning details are graphic*
*Warning details are graphic*
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - Robert Pickton admitted to killing 49 women and planned to kill one more to make it an even 50, the Crown prosecutor told jurors as he wrapped up an opening statement that contained the first shocking public details of the case against the accused serial killer.
"Mr. Pickton states that he had one more planned, but that was the end of it, that was the last," Derrill Prevett said.
He quoted Pickton as saying: "I was going to shut it down, I was just plotting just the last one."
CAUTION TO READERS: the details of this case may sometimes be raw. Some content may offend.
Jurors heard that Pickton made statements about the murder during a formal police interview, then again to an undercover officer that was placed in his jail cell.
He told the cell plant he was "sloppy" and one of the reasons he hadn't been caught earlier is because of bad policing.
Prevett quoted Pickton as saying: "I was gonna do one more, make it an even 50."
Pickton is charged with killing 26 women from Vancouver's gritty Downtown Eastside. He is currently standing trial for the deaths of six. A trial on the other 20 will take place later.
Defence lawyer Peter Ritchie told jurors Pickton did not kill any of the women and he urged them to remain objective.
"My first suggestion to you is that you not be overwhelmed by what you've heard from the Crown this morning," he said, adding the Crown has yet to prove its case and he will be "vigorously contesting" parts of that case.
Ritchie asked the jurors to pay close attention to the conversations during both the formal police interview and with the undercover officer in his cell.
"Pay particularly close attention to the evidence relating to his intellectual competence and close attention to his level of understanding when you watch the videotapes when you listen to them, pay close attention to what Mr. Pickton says and the manner in which is expresses himself," the defence lawyer said in his opening statement.
Weeks ago when the seven men and five women of the jury were selected, the judge warned them that what they would hear would resemble a horror movie.
On Monday, Prevett began outlining some of the gruesome testimony they can expect to hear.
Pickton was arrested after officers searching for illegal firearms raided his farm in 2002. The investigators found guns and ammunition, but they also found a bloody scene, including human remains, at least one sex toy, leg irons and handcuffs.
Two heads were found in buckets stored in two large freezers. They had been cut vertically with a saw and their hands had been stuffed inside the skulls, Prevett said.
Forensic analysis later identified the remains as belonging to Sereena Abotsway and Andrea Joesbury.
The head of Mona Wilson was found in a garbage can in the slaughter house of the pig farm property, Prevett said.
Investigators also found the lower jaw of Brenda Wolfe in a trough near the slaughterhouse and in the pigpen nearby, Prevett said human bones were found mixed with manure.
He said those bones were later identified as the hand bones of Georgina Papin.
The jaw bone of Marnie Frey was also found on the site.
In a laundry room in Pickton's trailer, officers found a revolver in a zippered gun case, Prevett said. The barrel of the gun was swathed in plastic wrap, bound tightly with an elastic band and had a dildo fitted over it.
The revolver had one spent casing and was loaded with a further five rounds, the prosecutor said.
Forensic analysis showed the DNA of Pickton and of Wilson were on the revolver.
Pickton, who has pleaded not guilty to six counts of first-degree murder, stared straight ahead as Prevett recited the evidence that will be entered.
Earlier, he entered court, bowed slightly to the judge, and took his seat. He was dressed in white running shoes, casual black pants and a grey short-sleeved shirt. He carried a white pad for taking notes, a sweatshirt and a green binder.
He didn't glance at jurors.
Before Prevett began, Justice James Williams implored jurors to remain objective, despite the gruesome details. He said it would be easy for them to be swept away by revulsion about what they will hear.
"You should be aware of that possibility and ensure it does not happen to you."
Williams told the jurors to avoid all media coverage of the case and not to discuss it with anyone.
He also warned the media to respect the numerous publication bans made at various times during the Pickton legal process, which began in 2003.
"It is not my intention to stand by and simply see the court orders flouted. I believe that members of the media will approach this matter responsibly."
More than 300 reporters from Canada, the U.S. and Britain are accredited to cover the trial. Some international media have published details heard under a publication ban.
The first witness testified in the afternoon, telling jurors the case posed some unique challenges in the early going.
RCMP Insp. Don Adam said Vancouver Police had launched Project Amelia to investigate the disappearances of 10 women and in 1999 found nine had simply relocated and weren't missing at all.
"So Project Amelia believed they (the disappearances) had stopped," Adam testified.
He said without bodies or evidence, police had a hard time knowing how to proceed. Investigators also weren't helped by an inadequate DNA databank.
But in the summer of 2001, after the RCMP had joined the Vancouver force to form Project Evenhanded, Adam said he was asked by the Crown if the women were simply missing or were the victims of homicide.
Adam said this number of missing women didn't exist in other jurisdictions.
"I concluded they were murder victims," he testified.
Among those in the public gallery listening Monday was the daughter of one of the women Pickton is accused of killing.
Brittney Frey, 14, said she was a little scared and nervous, but felt she had to be at the courthouse to seek justice and accountability.
"I'm here for her and for the other family members to support them," said Frey, who looks strikingly like her mother, Marnie.
The teen said she also wants to support her stepmother, Lynn Frey, who helped raise Marnie and who has been raising Brittney.
"We just all need to be here together," said the slim teenager, who wore white hightops and a grey windbreaker.
Lynn Frey said whatever she hears during the case, it won't give her what she wants most.
"I just wish she (Marnie) could come home with me but I can't have that."
Marnie's biological mother and brother also turned up at court. They have not spoken publicly before, but Rick Frey Jr. said he and his mom have been devastated by the case.
Added Charlotte Frey: "We all know what happened. None of it is going to be good. We just want it over with."
Sandra Gagnon arrived at the courthouse at 7 a.m. in an effort to get a seat.
Her sister Janet Henry is among the more than 30 other women who have disappeared from the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood but no charges have been laid in their deaths.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time and it's finally here," she said slowly.
"It's very difficult at the same time because it's taken its toll on a lot of my family. Going through this whole thing, I know it's going to be a long, long road."
The case has received saturation coverage locally and television and radio stations delivered their morning programs live from in front of the courthouse.
hmy:
