Photo: Castanet

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

A Kamloops lawyer accused of stabbing his client to death appeared to give a handful of cash to a homeless man who unknowingly helped him load a heavy storage tote into the back of his SUV on Victoria Street.

That’s what a judge heard Wednesday during Day 6 of Butch Bagabuyo's first-degree murder trial, where court watched surveillance video showing Bagabuyo struggling to load a heavy storage tote into the back of his SUV.

Bagabuyo, 57, is accused of killing his client, 60-year-old Mohd Abdullah, on March 11, 2022.

According to prosecutors, Bagabuyo and Abdullah worked together in 2016 to hide $774,000 from Abdullah’s ex-wife during his separation. Abdullah, who worked as a computer sciences instructor at TRU, was trying to collect that money in the months leading up to his death.

The Crown has alleged Bagabuyo killed Abdullah after burning through that money, stabbing him to death inside his Victoria Street law office and the enlisting the help of an elderly friend to rent a cargo van and help dispose of the evidence.

Abdullah was reported missing after failing to show up to work at TRU on March 14, 2022. His body was discovered three days later inside a large storage tote in the back of a cargo van parked outside the home of Bagabuyo’s friend.

Good Samaritan helped

Court was shown surveillance videos on Wednesday tracing some of Bagabuyo’s movements on the day the Crown says Abdullah was killed.

The videos, captured by security cameras at businesses and homes, show Bagabuyo visiting his office early in the morning, then returning in the early afternoon.

At about 5:30 p.m., Bagabuyo can be seen pulling a large storage tote down the sidewalk — from the direction of his office toward his Honda Pilot SUV, which was parked down the block.

As Bagabuyo struggled to get the heavy bin into his vehicle in the 300-block of Victoria Street, a passerby stopped to offer some help. The man was described in court as being homeless.

“He assisted Mr. Bagabuyo by lifting the bin into the back of the black Honda Pilot,” RCMP Cpl. David Marshall said, describing the video in court.

"They appeared to have to move some items around in the back of the vehicle in order to fit the bin into the back of the vehicle.”

Marshall said the Good Samaritan departed westbound down the Victoria Street sidewalk.

“Mr. Bagabuyo hands him what appears to be cash prior to him leaving,” he said.

The Good Samaritan is scheduled to testify later in the trial. He was going to be called on Wednesday, but prosecutors said they were having trouble convincing him to show up.

First contact with police

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, RCMP Const. Kim Lucas, the Kamloops detachment’s missing persons co-ordinator, described a phone call she had with Bagabuyo on March 15, 2022 — the day after Abdullah was reported missing and four days after the murder, according to the Crown.

Lucas said she called Bagabuyo just before 8 a.m. and got a call back an hour later.

“We had a brief conversation where Butch indicated to me that he had a meeting with Mohd on either March 10 or March 11,” she said.

“Butch told me that Mr. Abdullah said he would see him when he was back. I asked what that meant to Butch, and Butch told me that he took that as Mohd was out of town.”

March 15, 2022, was the same day Bagabuyo showed up at the doorstep of his elderly friend seeking help disposing of a large storage tote. The two men rented a cargo van that day, then put nearly 600 kilometres on it while attempting unsuccessfully to bury the bin.

Court has heard the friend, Wynand Rautenbach, was not aware that the bin contained a body.

Seized for DNA profile

Lucas also testified about what she found inside Abdullah’s Pacific Way townhouse when she and another Mountie got inside on March 16, 2022, with the help of a locksmith.

She described the house as “tidy" and organized, and said a tablet was playing music on the kitchen counter when they got inside.

“We checked the residence and confirmed that Mohd was not inside the home,” she said.

“While I was in the home, I searched the home. I also looked for any sign of a crime scene or a body inside.”

Lucas said she seized a handful of items from the townhouse, including the tablet and an iPhone. She also bagged three bathroom items — a hair brush, a toothbrush and a razor.

“Those items I seized with the intention of in the future providing them to the coroner for a DNA profile,” she said.

The trial continues

Bagabuyo’s trial will continue on Thursday morning at the Kamloops Law Courts. The trial will run next week in Kamloops before shifting to the Vancouver Law Courts on May 5.