Photo: Castanet

Butch Bagabuyo leaves the Kamloops Law Courts on April 14, following Day 1 of his first-degree murder trial.

UPDATE: 12:14 p.m.

A Kamloops lawyer burned through more than $750,000 of his client’s money before stabbing him repeatedly in the chest, wrapping his body in plastic and enlisting the help of an elderly man to bury it in the woods.

That’s what a judge was told Tuesday as Crown prosecutors provided their opening statement in the trial of 57-year-old Butch Bagabuyo, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Mohd Abdullah, 60.

Abdullah was last seen on March 11, 2022. He was reported missing after he failed to show up for work at Thompson Rivers University, where he taught computer sciences.

His body was found six days later inside a rental van parked outside a home in Dufferin.

Bagabuyo, a lawyer who had Abdullah as a client, was arrested on March 18, 2022, and charged with committing an indignity to human remains. He was charged with murder in 2023.

The Crown’s theory

Crown prosecutor Ann Katrine Saettler provided a lengthy opening statement on Tuesday morning, laying out the Crown’s theory about what happened and why.

Saettler said Bagabuyo and Abdullah hatched a scheme years earlier to hide $774,000 of Abdullah’s money from his ex-wife. She said Abdullah was trying to collect that money from Bagabuyo in the months leading up to his death.

According to the Crown, Bagabuyo killed Abdullah on March 11, 2022, during a meeting at his Victoria Street law office.

"Forensic evidence from the second-floor office will show blood spatter near the top of the staircase, as well as the DNA of Mr. Abdullah,” she said.

“The forensic pathologist [will testify] that Mr. Abdullah died from multiple stab wounds to the upper left chest area and neck. I expect the court will hear evidence that some of the stab wounds penetrated the heart.”

Bagabuyo is then alleged to have loaded the body into a large wheeled storage tote and moved it to his vehicle.

He enlisted the help of an elderly friend, Saettler said. The friend rented a large van from Budget and the two men went out in an attempt to bury the bin somewhere it would not be found.

“He knew what his friend was asking him to help with might not be legal, but he did not know what was in the bin and thought it might be papers,” Saettler said in her opening statement, noting the two men were not successful despite multiple attempts.

“The ground was frozen and there were people around.”

Saettler said a forensic accountant will tell court where the money went.

"I expect that forensic account will testify that Mr. Bagabuyo spent the money on his personal living expenses, and that Mr. Bagabuyo had little in the way of other money coming in," she said.

"I expect she will testify that Mr. Abdullah's money is gone."

’Sinking feeling'

The trial’s first witness, Justin Robertson, began his testimony as soon as Saettler’s opening wrapped up.

Robertson is the grandson of the elderly friend Bagabuyo tapped for help. He said he was staying with his grandparents temporarily in March of 2022 and he quickly became suspicious after spotting a Budget rental van in the driveway of their home in Dufferin.

Robertson said he and his grandmother wanted to know more about what his grandfather was doing with Bagabuyo.

“Eventually it was determined that we were unsatisfied not knowing,” he said.

"I felt my grandfather was being taken advantage of or being put up to something, so I decided I was going to open the van and see what was inside.”

Robertson said he got the keys and opened the van, then removed a tarp and some ratchet straps from a large black and red storage tote.

“I lifted it up and I was looking straight down. I could see bags and some papers — no big deal,” he said.

“I lifted it a little bit more and then I saw a foot and a sock with a pattern on the bottom and a leg in jeans, and I just had this sinking feeling and ringing in my ears.”

Robertson told his grandparents about the find and called 911. He said police arrived en masse a short time later.

Just getting started

Bagabuyo’s trial is scheduled to run for nine weeks. The trial will be held in Kamloops until May 5, when it will shift to Vancouver for the final six weeks.

An investigator from the Law Society of B.C. was in the courtroom Tuesday watching the trial.

Photo: Castanet

Police remove evidence from Butch Bagabuyo's Victoria Street law office in March of 2022.

ORIGINAL STORY: 4 a.m.

A Kamloops lawyer spent much of the first day of his murder trial with his neck craned, watching intently and making notes while a police officer stood beside him unwrapping bag after bag of evidence — a steak knife, two shovels, rope, tape and a 12-inch saw blade among them.

Court heard those items were seized from a Budget rental van, the same one in which police said 60-year-old Thompson Rivers University instructor Mohd Abdullah was found dead on March 17, 2022.

His lawyer, 57-year-old Butch Bagabuyo, is facing charges of first-degree murder and offering an indignity to human remains. His trial got underway on Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Prosecutors spent the first day of the trial filing dozens of exhibits that are expected to be needed when witnesses begin to testify on Tuesday.

Bagabuyo had a front-row seat, watching closely as a Mountie standing next to him meticulously unpackaged and held up 58 pieces of evidence — so many that the courtroom at one point ran out of plastic exhibit bags.

Wearing a black suit and black-framed glasses, Bagabuyo was often turned to get a closer look at the items and could be seen jotting down notes.

Dozens of items unwrapped

Among the items were five black garbage bags with holes cut in the bottom and sides, and another one tied like a cape. Two empty white garbage bags were found with the word "after" written on them. Some of the garbage bags were partly melted.

The rental van was found parked on a driveway in a cul de sac in Dufferin. Among the items found inside are shovels, rope and a steak knife. Mounties also found a beach towel with the name Bagabuyo written on the tag, a box cutter, a 12-inch saw blade and a roll of tape.

A number of peculiar documents were filed as exhibits Monday, including a 28-page stack that Bagabuyo had up his sleeve when police arrested him on March 18, 2022, mostly made up of emails between him and Abdullah.

Court was also shown an index card found inside Bagabuyo’s Columbia Street home, which had flight information written on one side and the following directions on the other: “Bag everything after, don’t bring phone, e watch, turn apps off, location services off."

Prosecutors ran out of time on Monday and did not deliver their opening statement. That is expected to happen on Tuesday morning before the first witnesses are called.

The trial is scheduled to run for three weeks in Kamloops before shifting to Vancouver on May 5 for six more weeks.

Bagabuyo is free on bail.