Kamloops

Elderly friend says Kamloops lawyer asked him to help dispose of suspicious bin

Bagabuyo was 'hyper'

Tim Petruk - Apr 16, 2025 / 4:00 am | Story: 544860

Photo: Castanet

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

Butch Bagabuyo was “hyper” and appeared desperate when he knocked on the door of an old friend in March of 2022 looking for help making a large, heavy storage tote disappear.

That’s what a judge was told Tuesday as Bagabuyo’s first-degree murder trial continued in B.C. Supreme Court.

Bagabuyo, 57, is charged in the March 11, 2022, death of Mohd Abdullah, 60. Bagabuyo is a lawyer and Abdullah was his client.

According to prosecutors, Bagabuyo and Abdullah worked together to hide $774,000 from Abdullah’s ex-wife during his divorce. He was trying to collect that money from Bagabuyo in the months leading up to his death.

Prosecutors allege Bagabuyo killed Abdullah after burning through the money, stabbing him to death inside his second-floor law office in the 300-block of Victoria Street and then enlisting an elderly friend to help dispose of the evidence.

A forensic accountant is expected to testify that Bagabuyo was living off Abdullah's money — and there's none left.

Ground too hard to dig

Wynand Rautenbach, 87, said Bagabuyo helped him "tremendously" with a legal issue arising from a problem tenant in his basement suite.

So when Bagabuyo knocked on his door on March 15, 2022, he was inclined to help.

“He came to my door and he said he wanted to take me for coffee to a restaurant," Rautenbach said.

"He was really sort of hyper at that time. He said we must rent a van. He said, 'I’ve got a box of heavy stuff I want to get rid of.'”

Rautenbach rented the van from Budget and said he and Bagabuyo drove around for many hours in an attempt to bury the bin.

“He was looking for a place where we could dig a hole and bury the box,” he said.

The bin was not buried. According to the Crown, the ground was still frozen and the men were unable to get their shovels into the dirt.

Court heard Rautenbach knew Bagabuyo was asking him to do something unsavoury, but he did not think the bin contained a body.

"Did you know what the heavy stuff was when he came to you?" asked Crown prosecutor Ann Katrine Saettler.

"Not at all," Rautenbach replied.

Grisly find on driveway

Abdullah’s body was discovered inside a large plastic bin when Rautenbach’s grandson opened the van to take a look inside.

Justin Robertson, the grandson, said he became suspicious after peering into the window of the van parked in Rautenbach's driveway.

"I had looked through the window of the van prior, and that's what began raising alarm bells," he said.

"I saw a bag inside and there were tools for digging. It looked like they were clothing items. It just seemed very suspicious."

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.

He said he recognized the bin as having been on a rack on the back of Bagabuyo's SUV a few days earlier when he stopped by to invite Rautenbach for coffee.

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