An Exacto knife, a 12-inch blade, and a shovel had been among the many almost 60 items of proof submitted in a Kamloops, B.C., courtroom on Monday on the trial of a lawyer accused of killing his consumer.
Rogelio Bagabuyo is charged with first-degree homicide within the March 2022 demise of Mohd Abdullah, a Thompson Rivers College science professor.
Bagabuyo, 57, who goes by the nickname Butch, wore glasses and sat behind his legal professionals in a B.C. Supreme Courtroom courtroom. He took notes as Justice Kathleen Ker logged dozens of reveals into proof on the judge-alone trial.
The primary exhibit entered was the rental paperwork for a Price range van by which the sufferer’s stays had been discovered. The van had been left within the Dufferin space of Kamloops.
Different proof gadgets included a big black storage tote bag, ropes, disposable lighters, cables and black rubbish baggage with holes reduce out of them.
An index card with handwritten notes was additionally submitted as proof containing details about a flight from Vancouver to New York Metropolis and the phrases “bag every little thing after,” “do not convey telephone and e-watch,” “flip APPS off,” and “flip location companies off.”
A stack of paperwork containing 28 pages of e-mail exchanges between the sufferer and the accused, in addition to the sufferer’s will and energy of lawyer paperwork from 2016 — signed by each Abdullah and his then-lawyer Bagabuyo — had been additionally submitted.
At one level, the court docket needed to take a break to seek out extra clear baggage to include the proof.
Kamloops lawyer Rogelio Butch Bagabuyo, 54, was charged with interfering with human stays on Monday, March 21, 2022.
Bagabuyo, a former member of the B.C. Regulation Society, is accused of killing Modh Abdullah. (Kamloops Collaborative Household Regulation Affiliation)
Abdullah, a 60-year-old pc science professor, was reported lacking on March 14, 2022, when he didn’t present up for work at TRU.
Three days later, his physique was discovered, and Bagabuyo was charged with interfering with human stays.
Shortly after Abdullah’s demise, Abdullah’s son-in-law instructed CBC Information that Bagabuyo had been Abdullah’s “trusted good friend.” Abdullah’s daughter, Sarah Jeet Lalata-Buco, mentioned her father was a quiet and sort man.
Anybody with details about this van is requested to contact Kamloops RCMP instantly.
The price range rental van containing Abdullah’s stays was discovered within the 1600-block of Monterey Place, Kamloops, B.C., on March 17, 2022. (Kamloops RCMP)
Greater than a yr later, in Could 2023, Bagabuyo was charged with homicide. He has been free on bail since July 2023.
Abdullah labored on the college for 21 years and performed an essential position within the College of Science and Open Studying, in response to a press release from the college in 2022.
The Crown is ready to make opening arguments on Tuesday.