A former B.C. lawyer who has been charged with the first-degree homicide of his consumer owed him over $700,000, in response to Crown prosecutors.
Rogelio “Butch” Bagabuyo is charged with first-degree homicide within the March 2022 loss of life of Mohd Abdullah, a Thompson Rivers College pc science professor, within the south-central Inside metropolis of Kamloops.
Bagabuyo’s trial, which is being heard earlier than a choose solely, started on Monday. On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Ann Katrine Saettler advised Justice Kathleen Ker that Abdullah had given Bagabuyo the hefty sum in 2016 when his marriage was coming to an in depth.
In accordance with the Crown’s concept of occasions, the pc science professor had anticipated to get the cash again after his divorce was finalized — and in March 2022, he was nonetheless ready for Bagabuyo to return it. The cash continues to be lacking, in response to the Crown.
The final day Abdullah was seen alive was March 11, 2022, when he was filmed strolling to Bagabuyo’s workplace in downtown Kamloops.
His stays had been discovered days later in a plastic bin behind a rental van. An post-mortem confirmed a number of stab wounds to Abdullah’s higher left chest and again.
The Crown says it plans to show that Bagabuyo killed Abdullah in his workplace, positioned the physique in a plastic tote bag, and subsequently moved it to the van.
Witness takes stand
Justin Robertson was the primary witness to take the stand on Tuesday, having referred to as 911 to report that the rental van exterior his grandparents’ house in Kamloops’ Dufferin neighbourhood contained human stays.
Robertson testified he and his grandmother grew to become suspicious after his grandfather advised them Bagabuyo requested for his assist burying a field.
The Kamloops man advised the court docket that he placed on some backyard gloves, entered the rental van and opened the plastic tote containing the sufferer’s stays.
Robertson referred to as 911 after seeing a human foot within the bin.
On Monday, the primary piece of proof submitted to court docket was the rental paperwork for a Finances van through which the sufferer’s stays had been discovered.
Different proof gadgets included a big black storage tote bag, ropes, disposable lighters, cables and black rubbish baggage with holes lower out of them, in addition to a knife, a 12-inch blade, and a shovel.
Bagabuyo was initially charged with interfering with human stays three days after Abdullah’s physique was discovered on March 17, 2022.
Greater than a yr later, he was charged with homicide. He has been free on bail since July 2023.
Abdullah, who was 60 years outdated, labored at Thompson Rivers College for 21 years and performed an essential function within the School of Science and Open Studying, in response to a press release from the college in 2022.
Shortly after his loss of life, Abdullah’s son-in-law advised CBC Information that Bagabuyo had been Abdullah’s “trusted pal.” Abdullah’s daughter, Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, stated her father was a quiet and type man.
Bagabuyo’s trial will proceed on Wednesday.
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