Photo: Castanet

Police investigate in March of 2022 after a body was discovered inside a van parked on this driveway in Dufferin.

Lawyers were in court this week ironing out details ahead of a lengthy trial slated to get underway next month for a Kamloops lawyer accused of murdering his own client.

Butch Bagabuyo, 57, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mohd Abdullah. His trial in B.C. Supreme Court is scheduled to start on April 14.

Abdullah, a computer sciences instructor at Thompson Rivers University who also taught yoga and pilates in Kamloops, was reported missing on March 11, 2022. His body was discovered six days later inside a rental van parked on a driveway in a cul de sac in Dufferin.

A court-ordered ban prevents the publication of anything discussed during a case management conference on Tuesday, as well as the details of the allegations against Bagabuyo. Those details will become public once they come out at trial.

Bagabuyo worked as a family lawyer in Kamloops. He was Abdullah’s lawyer and close friend, according to Abdullah’s daughter.

Kamloops Mounties have described the investigation into Abdullah’s death, specifically referencing the issues created by Bagabuyo’s line of work, as “unprecedented” in the city’s history — and very expensive.

The nine-week murder trial will mostly take place in Vancouver following a successful change of venue application by Bagabuyo’s lawyer, but the first three weeks will be heard at the Kamloops Law Courts to accommodate local civilian witnesses.

The judge-alone trial is scheduled to begin on April 14 in Kamloops, shifting to Vancouver on May 5.

Bagabuyo has been free on bail since the summer of 2023.

Photo: RCMP

Mohd Abdullah seen in security camera images taken shortly before his disappearance in March of 2022.