Intense interest in Pickton trial declines markedly after first day
Greg Joyce
Canadian Press
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - The second day of the long-awaited trial of accused serial killer Robert Pickton lacked the level of intense interest that surrounded the case a day earlier.
The media and public interest so evident on the opening day had almost disappeared completely on Tuesday.
Pickton, 56, is facing first-degree murder charges in the disappearance of 27 women, mostly sex-trade workers, from Vancouver's drug-riddled Downtown Eastside.
On Monday, not-guilty pleas were entered on the 27 charges in B.C. Supreme Court with the main courtroom and an overflow room next door filled to capacity.
But as the second day of the trial began under a strict publication ban, most of the media throng had disappeared along with the TV satellite trucks. About seven reporters, most of them from the print media, were in court Tuesday along with two artists.
The main courtroom, which seats 50, was about two-thirds full while the overflow courtroom, with a capacity of 72, was virtually empty.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe was not surprised.
"It was to be expected," said Lowe. "It's because of the publication ban and I didn't expect crowds after the first day."
Pickton was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearance of sex-trade workers from the Downtown Eastside. More than 60 women have gone missing from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
Another factor behind the drop in interest may be the fact that the Crown and defence are making lengthy arguments about what evidence will be permitted during what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial. Lowe has already said the voir dire could last several months.
As he did Monday, Pickton sat in the prisoner's box listening closely to the arguments and occasionally taking notes.
Pickton's lead lawyer, Peter Ritchie, provided a glimpse on Monday at the task ahead for the defence, saying the Crown had disclosed about 750,000 pages of material that they had to "analyze and prepare for."
© The Canadian Press 2006
Tuesday, January 31
Families glad to see Pickton on trial
Families glad to see Pickton on trial
Ban on publication of evidence expected to last several months
Lori Culbert and Neal Hall, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER --Friends and family of the dozens of women murdered in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside attended the opening of the trial Monday of Robert (Willy) Pickton, the man accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
As the clerk read out the names of the 27 victims and asked Pickton how he would plead, his voice was at first loud, then became nearly inaudible as he repeated "not guilty" 26 times. He refused to enter a plea on one count that involves an unidentified victim, Jane Doe. The judge entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
Pickton showed no emotion throughout the hearing, the content of which cannot be printed because of a publication ban.
As difficult as it was for relatives to hear again the details of the Crown's accusations against Pickton, there was relief that the proceedings were finally underway -- nearly four years after the suspect's February 2002 arrest.
"I'm just glad it's finally underway," said Sandra Gagnon of Alert Bay, the sister of Janet Henry.
Henry is one of 68 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver between 1978 and 2001, but is not among the 27 women Pickton has been accused of murdering.
Gagnon previously attended Pickton's preliminary hearing in 2003.
"I've been here since the beginning," she said.
"I'm here to support my cousin Sherry (Irving), to give some closure to this whole thing," said Leona Phillips.
Pickton has been charged with the murder of Irving, whose DNA was found on his Port Coquitlam farm.
"It's been really long," she said of the wait for the trial to begin.
The trial began with a voir dire, sometimes called a "trial within a trial" that will hear applications to determine admissibility of certain evidence. These applications will be heard in the absence of a jury, which has yet to be selected, so the ban on publication on the proceedings will continue. The voir dire is expected to last several months.
On Monday, Pickton, who has not often attended sessions for procedural motions was in the courthouse. Thick, bullet-proof glass in the high-security courtroom separated him from the relatives and friends of the missing women.
Dressed in a short-sleeved grey shirt, black jeans and new white running shoes, Pickton scribbled notes on a pad as he listened intently to a witness on the stand. His hair, cut to shoulder-length, is streaked with grey.
Pickton's lead defence lawyer, Peter Ritchie, said his client is healthy but would not answer any other questions about the accused.
Asked by a reporter if he expects his client to be acquitted, Ritchie said: "I don't really predict outcomes of trials."
The lawyer pointed out that about 750,000 pages of material have been disclosed to the defence. "It is a formidable challenge to the defence team," he said.
Asked why his client didn't enter a plea on one count, Ritchie said the defence position is "there appears to be a flaw in the indictment ... so arguments will be raised whether it is technically proper."
"This case is unprecedented in its magnitude," said Stan Lowe, speaking on behalf of the Crown. "It's a mega case on the same scale as Air India."
Relatives of the 27 murder victims have been asked not to attend the voir dire, because they could be called to testify at the trial.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
Ban on publication of evidence expected to last several months
Lori Culbert and Neal Hall, CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, January 31, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER --Friends and family of the dozens of women murdered in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside attended the opening of the trial Monday of Robert (Willy) Pickton, the man accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
As the clerk read out the names of the 27 victims and asked Pickton how he would plead, his voice was at first loud, then became nearly inaudible as he repeated "not guilty" 26 times. He refused to enter a plea on one count that involves an unidentified victim, Jane Doe. The judge entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
Pickton showed no emotion throughout the hearing, the content of which cannot be printed because of a publication ban.
As difficult as it was for relatives to hear again the details of the Crown's accusations against Pickton, there was relief that the proceedings were finally underway -- nearly four years after the suspect's February 2002 arrest.
"I'm just glad it's finally underway," said Sandra Gagnon of Alert Bay, the sister of Janet Henry.
Henry is one of 68 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver between 1978 and 2001, but is not among the 27 women Pickton has been accused of murdering.
Gagnon previously attended Pickton's preliminary hearing in 2003.
"I've been here since the beginning," she said.
"I'm here to support my cousin Sherry (Irving), to give some closure to this whole thing," said Leona Phillips.
Pickton has been charged with the murder of Irving, whose DNA was found on his Port Coquitlam farm.
"It's been really long," she said of the wait for the trial to begin.
The trial began with a voir dire, sometimes called a "trial within a trial" that will hear applications to determine admissibility of certain evidence. These applications will be heard in the absence of a jury, which has yet to be selected, so the ban on publication on the proceedings will continue. The voir dire is expected to last several months.
On Monday, Pickton, who has not often attended sessions for procedural motions was in the courthouse. Thick, bullet-proof glass in the high-security courtroom separated him from the relatives and friends of the missing women.
Dressed in a short-sleeved grey shirt, black jeans and new white running shoes, Pickton scribbled notes on a pad as he listened intently to a witness on the stand. His hair, cut to shoulder-length, is streaked with grey.
Pickton's lead defence lawyer, Peter Ritchie, said his client is healthy but would not answer any other questions about the accused.
Asked by a reporter if he expects his client to be acquitted, Ritchie said: "I don't really predict outcomes of trials."
The lawyer pointed out that about 750,000 pages of material have been disclosed to the defence. "It is a formidable challenge to the defence team," he said.
Asked why his client didn't enter a plea on one count, Ritchie said the defence position is "there appears to be a flaw in the indictment ... so arguments will be raised whether it is technically proper."
"This case is unprecedented in its magnitude," said Stan Lowe, speaking on behalf of the Crown. "It's a mega case on the same scale as Air India."
Relatives of the 27 murder victims have been asked not to attend the voir dire, because they could be called to testify at the trial.
© Times Colonist (Victoria) 2006
Robert Pickton is charged with the murder of these women
Robert Pickton is charged with the murder of these women
The Canadian Press
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
- Heather Chinnock: Born Nov. 10, 1970. Last seen April 2001 and reported missing the following June.
- Inga Hall: Born Jan. 25, 1952. Last seen February 1998 and reported missing in March of the same year.
- Tanya Holyk: Born Dec. 8, 1975. Last seen October 1996 and reported missing in November 1997.
- Sherry Irving: Born March 19, 1973. Last seen April 1997 and reported missing the following March.
- Jennifer Furminger: Born Oct. 22, 1971. Last seen Dec. 27, 1999, and reported missing March 30, 2000.
- Helen Hallmark: Born June 24, 1966.
Last seen June 15, 1997, and reported missing Sept. 23, 1998.
- Patricia Johnson: Born Dec. 2, 1976. Last seen March 3, 2001, and reported missing May 31, 2001.
- Georgina Papin: Born March 11, 1964. Last seen March 2, 1999, and reported missing March 14, 2001.
- Brenda Wolfe: Born Oct. 20, 1968. Last seen Feb. 1, 1999, and reported missing April 25, 2000.
- Andrea Joesbury: Born Nov. 6, 1978. Last seen June 6, 2001, and reported missing two days later.
- Heather Bottomley: Born Aug. 17, 1976. Last seen April 17, 2001, and reported missing the same day.
- Jacqueline McDonell: 26. Last seen Jan. 16, 1999, and reported missing Feb. 22, 1999.
- Diane Rock: 34. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001.
- Sereena Abotsway: Born Aug. 20, 1971. Last seen Aug. 1, 2001, and reported missing Aug. 22, 2001.
- Mona Wilson: Born Jan. 13, 1975. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001.
- Tiffany Drew: Born Jan. 31, 1975. Last seen Dec. 31, 1999. Reported missing Feb. 8, 2002.
- Marnie Frey: Born August 1973. Disappeared in Vancouver in 1997.
- Cynthia Feliks: 43. Disappeared in fall of 1997. Name not added to missing women's list until four years later.
- Angela Jardine: Age 27. Last seen in November 1998.
- Diane Melnick: 23 when last seen in December 1995.
- Sarah deVries: 28. Disappeared in April 1998.
- Jane Doe: Name for half skull of a woman between the ages of 19 and 25 found in marshy area near Mission in Fraser Valley.
- Cara Ellis: Born April 13, 1971. Last seen in 1997 when she was 25. Reported missing in October 2002.
- Debra Jones: 43. Vanished Dec. 21, 2000.
- Wendy Crawford: 44. Missing since 1999.
- Kerry Koski: 39. Reported missing in January 1998.
- Andrea Borhaven: 25 when she disappeared in 1997.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
The Canadian Press
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
- Heather Chinnock: Born Nov. 10, 1970. Last seen April 2001 and reported missing the following June.
- Inga Hall: Born Jan. 25, 1952. Last seen February 1998 and reported missing in March of the same year.
- Tanya Holyk: Born Dec. 8, 1975. Last seen October 1996 and reported missing in November 1997.
- Sherry Irving: Born March 19, 1973. Last seen April 1997 and reported missing the following March.
- Jennifer Furminger: Born Oct. 22, 1971. Last seen Dec. 27, 1999, and reported missing March 30, 2000.
- Helen Hallmark: Born June 24, 1966.
Last seen June 15, 1997, and reported missing Sept. 23, 1998.
- Patricia Johnson: Born Dec. 2, 1976. Last seen March 3, 2001, and reported missing May 31, 2001.
- Georgina Papin: Born March 11, 1964. Last seen March 2, 1999, and reported missing March 14, 2001.
- Brenda Wolfe: Born Oct. 20, 1968. Last seen Feb. 1, 1999, and reported missing April 25, 2000.
- Andrea Joesbury: Born Nov. 6, 1978. Last seen June 6, 2001, and reported missing two days later.
- Heather Bottomley: Born Aug. 17, 1976. Last seen April 17, 2001, and reported missing the same day.
- Jacqueline McDonell: 26. Last seen Jan. 16, 1999, and reported missing Feb. 22, 1999.
- Diane Rock: 34. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001.
- Sereena Abotsway: Born Aug. 20, 1971. Last seen Aug. 1, 2001, and reported missing Aug. 22, 2001.
- Mona Wilson: Born Jan. 13, 1975. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001.
- Tiffany Drew: Born Jan. 31, 1975. Last seen Dec. 31, 1999. Reported missing Feb. 8, 2002.
- Marnie Frey: Born August 1973. Disappeared in Vancouver in 1997.
- Cynthia Feliks: 43. Disappeared in fall of 1997. Name not added to missing women's list until four years later.
- Angela Jardine: Age 27. Last seen in November 1998.
- Diane Melnick: 23 when last seen in December 1995.
- Sarah deVries: 28. Disappeared in April 1998.
- Jane Doe: Name for half skull of a woman between the ages of 19 and 25 found in marshy area near Mission in Fraser Valley.
- Cara Ellis: Born April 13, 1971. Last seen in 1997 when she was 25. Reported missing in October 2002.
- Debra Jones: 43. Vanished Dec. 21, 2000.
- Wendy Crawford: 44. Missing since 1999.
- Kerry Koski: 39. Reported missing in January 1998.
- Andrea Borhaven: 25 when she disappeared in 1997.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
Monday, January 30
Accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters not-guilty pleas in court
Accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters not-guilty pleas in court
MACLEANS.CA
GREG JOYCE
January 30, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - For the first time since his arrest four years ago, accused serial killer Robert Pickton professed he is not guilty Monday to charges he killed 27 women, mostly sex-trade workers from one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.
The 56-year-old man spoke in a strong voice as each count of first-degree murder was read in B.C. Supreme Court, responding "Not guilty" or "Not guilty, your honour," to the charges. His answer to the first count was: "Not guilty, please."
The pleas at the formal start of his trial marked a significant milestone in the Pickton case, which has been before the courts in various pre-trial hearings since he was arrested in February 2002.
One of Pickton's lawyers, Adrian Brooks, told the court prior to the indictment being read that Pickton would not enter a plea to Count 22 - which named a woman known only as Jane Doe as one of the alleged murder victims.
On that charge, the court registered a not-guilty plea on Pickton's behalf, following a procedure spelled out in the Criminal Code.
Outside court, Pickton's lead lawyer, Peter Ritchie, said the defence would argue that there is a "flaw" in connection with that charge.
"We'll make arguments to that effect, whether it's technically proper," he said. Ritchie refused to elaborate.
He said the Crown had disclosed about 750,000 pages of material to the defence that it had to "analyze and prepare for."
After the pleas were entered, the defence and Crown began legal arguments over the admissibility of evidence. Those arguments are heard under a publication ban that is normally applied at this stage of the legal process.
Ritchie said this voir dire portion of the trial was to try "to get the trial moving ahead, to get issues resolved before the jury arrives."
Pickton has not formally elected whether he will be tried by a jury or judge alone.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said outside court the voir dire would likely last for several months.
"This case is unprecedented in magnitude," said Lowe, standing under a makeshift canopy and facing a barrage of cameras and microphones.
"This is truly a mega-case."
Until Monday, Pickton has hardly spoken in a number of pre-trial court appearances.
He was arrested early in 2002 by police investigating the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Pickton wore white tennis shoes, jeans and a green-plaid leisure shirt in court. As the indictment was read to him, he stood and followed along, reading a copy in front of him that was held by Brooks.
The reading of the indictment and the pleas took more than 10 minutes to complete.
Pickton kept a green binder on his lap and wrote notes sporadically on a notepad.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of family members of women who went missing from the drug-riddled downtown neighbourhood held the panels of a quilt bearing the names of their loved ones.
Edna Brass of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre said the group, which formed a long chain, wanted to raise awareness about the more than 60 sex-trade workers who have disappeared from the area since the early 1980s.
"I don't know if we will ever have answers to all the questions," Brass said. "We are here to protest what has happened. It should never have happened."
Leona Phillips, a first cousin of Sherry Irving, who Pickton is accused of murdering, said: "I want to be here to support the women."
The trial is being held in a modified courtroom, with the public gallery separated from the rest of the room by a glass partition. The prisoner's box is enclosed in glass on three sides.
Another courtroom next door has been set aside as an "overflow" facility in anticipation of large crowds wanting to attend.
Pickton has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing in 2003 but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings. He was committed to stand trial after the preliminary hearing in B.C. provincial court.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
The first day of the trial was marked by throngs of media outside the courthouse.
Complicating the already tight security measures was the fact that a large jury pool had to enter the courthouse for an unrelated trial. Several hundred people were in line, some to get into the Pickton trial and some because they were in the jury selection pool for the other trial.
Some native women beat drums outside the courtroom as hundreds of people slowly entered the building.
Everyone entering the courthouse was subjected to a screening process, similar to security checks at airports. Those entering the Pickton courtroom and the overflow courtroom set up for this trial had to undergo a second security check.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
-
Robert Pickton pleaded not guilty in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday to 27 counts of first-degree murder. The charges are in connection with:
Heather Chinnock: Born Nov. 10, 1970. Last seen April 2001 and reported missing the following June. Was convicted in 1997 of soliciting in New Westminster and Burnaby.
Inga Hall: Born Jan. 25, 1952. Last seen February 1998 and reported missing in March of the same year. News report in 1987 said Hall and another woman were charged with robbing bank in Vancouver.
Tanya Holyk: Born Dec. 8, 1975. Last seen October 1996 and reported missing in November 1997. Mother of one, she had been living with her mother.
Sherry Irving: Born March 19, 1973. Last seen April 1997 and reported missing the following March to the Stl'Atl'lmx tribal police near Pemberton. Grew up in Edmonton and Vancouver Island.
Jennifer Furminger: Born Oct. 22, 1971. Last seen Dec. 27, 1999, and reported missing March 30, 2000.
Helen Hallmark: Born June 24, 1966. Last seen June 15, 1997, and reported missing Sept. 23, 1998.
Patricia Johnson: Born Dec. 2, 1976. Last seen March 3, 2001, and reported missing May 31, 2001. Had two tattoos of a rose on the left side of her back, each with the name of her two children inside.
Georgina Papin: Born March 11, 1964. Last seen March 2, 1999, and reported missing March 14, 2001. Had done some writing and art work that contributed to her native culture.
Brenda Wolfe: Born Oct. 20, 1968. Last seen Feb. 1, 1999, and reported missing April 25, 2000.
Andrea Joesbury: Born Nov. 6, 1978. Last seen June 6, 2001, and was reported missing two days later. Her doctor reported that she had failed to pick up her methadone as part of a heroin addiction program in Downtown Eastside.
Heather Bottomley: Born Aug. 17, 1976. Last seen April 17, 2001, and reported missing the same day. Grew up in New Westminster.
Jacqueline McDonell: 26. Last seen Jan. 16, 1999, and reported missing Feb. 22, 1999. Raised in Trail, B.C. and had only lived in Vancouver a short time.
Diane Rock: 34. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001. Formerly of Welland, Ont. Moved to Vancouver with husband and three children.
Sereena Abotsway: Born Aug. 20, 1971. Last seen Aug. 1, 2001, and reported missing Aug. 22, 2001. Raised by foster parents in Surrey, B.C., where she came as a troubled four-year-old.
Mona Wilson: Born Jan. 13, 1975. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001. One of the last women added to the missing women's list. Struggled with drug addiction and life in the Downtown Eastside.
Tiffany Drew: Born Jan. 31, 1975. Last seen Dec. 31, 1999. Not reported missing until Feb. 8, 2002. Raised in Nanaimo and Port Alberni, B.C.
Marnie Frey: Born August 1973 and disappeared in Vancouver in 1997. Was known drug user and sex-trade worker on Downtown Eastside.
Cynthia Feliks: 43. Disappeared in fall of 1997. Name not added to missing women's list until four years later. Grew up in Surrey. Was a drug user who lived in Downtown Eastside.
Angela Jardine: 27 when she disappeared. Mother said she suffered oxygen deprivation at birth and had tough life growing up in Castlegar. Last seen November 1998 at symposium on drug-related social problems in Downtown Eastside.
Diane Melnick: 23 when last seen in December 1995. Also a known drug user and sex trade worker in Downtown Eastside.
Sarah Devries: Disappeared in April 1998 from area frequented by sex trade workers in Downtown Eastside. Black woman adopted by white parents and grew up city's west side. Sister Maggie wrote a book about Sarah.
Jane Doe: Name for half skull that police found in marshy area near Mission in Fraser Valley. Forensics experts believe skull is woman between ages of 19 and 25.
Cara Ellis: Born April 13, 1971. Last seen in 1997 when she was 25. Reported missing in October 2002. Also went by name of Nikki Trimble.
Debra Jones: 43. Vanished Dec. 21, 2000 and her disappearance was logged by police on Christmas Day. Sister said she was a wonderful musician.
Wendy Crawford: 44. Missing since 1999. Last seen in Downtown Eastside. Mother of two children before she took to the streets. Had resided in Chilliwack prior to Vancouver.
Kerry Koski: 39 when reported missing in January 1998. Brother said she was married with three children but got addicted to heroin. Her sister set up Missing Women Legacy Society in Maple Ridge as refuge for women addicted to drugs and working as prostitutes.
Andrea Borhaven: 25 when she disappeared in 1997. Was known drug user and sex trade worker in Downtown Eastside. Last seen in Greater Vancouver but family reported her missing to Vernon RCMP, where she sometimes lived.
Copyright by Rogers Media Inc.
MACLEANS.CA
GREG JOYCE
January 30, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - For the first time since his arrest four years ago, accused serial killer Robert Pickton professed he is not guilty Monday to charges he killed 27 women, mostly sex-trade workers from one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.
The 56-year-old man spoke in a strong voice as each count of first-degree murder was read in B.C. Supreme Court, responding "Not guilty" or "Not guilty, your honour," to the charges. His answer to the first count was: "Not guilty, please."
The pleas at the formal start of his trial marked a significant milestone in the Pickton case, which has been before the courts in various pre-trial hearings since he was arrested in February 2002.
One of Pickton's lawyers, Adrian Brooks, told the court prior to the indictment being read that Pickton would not enter a plea to Count 22 - which named a woman known only as Jane Doe as one of the alleged murder victims.
On that charge, the court registered a not-guilty plea on Pickton's behalf, following a procedure spelled out in the Criminal Code.
Outside court, Pickton's lead lawyer, Peter Ritchie, said the defence would argue that there is a "flaw" in connection with that charge.
"We'll make arguments to that effect, whether it's technically proper," he said. Ritchie refused to elaborate.
He said the Crown had disclosed about 750,000 pages of material to the defence that it had to "analyze and prepare for."
After the pleas were entered, the defence and Crown began legal arguments over the admissibility of evidence. Those arguments are heard under a publication ban that is normally applied at this stage of the legal process.
Ritchie said this voir dire portion of the trial was to try "to get the trial moving ahead, to get issues resolved before the jury arrives."
Pickton has not formally elected whether he will be tried by a jury or judge alone.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said outside court the voir dire would likely last for several months.
"This case is unprecedented in magnitude," said Lowe, standing under a makeshift canopy and facing a barrage of cameras and microphones.
"This is truly a mega-case."
Until Monday, Pickton has hardly spoken in a number of pre-trial court appearances.
He was arrested early in 2002 by police investigating the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Pickton wore white tennis shoes, jeans and a green-plaid leisure shirt in court. As the indictment was read to him, he stood and followed along, reading a copy in front of him that was held by Brooks.
The reading of the indictment and the pleas took more than 10 minutes to complete.
Pickton kept a green binder on his lap and wrote notes sporadically on a notepad.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of family members of women who went missing from the drug-riddled downtown neighbourhood held the panels of a quilt bearing the names of their loved ones.
Edna Brass of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre said the group, which formed a long chain, wanted to raise awareness about the more than 60 sex-trade workers who have disappeared from the area since the early 1980s.
"I don't know if we will ever have answers to all the questions," Brass said. "We are here to protest what has happened. It should never have happened."
Leona Phillips, a first cousin of Sherry Irving, who Pickton is accused of murdering, said: "I want to be here to support the women."
The trial is being held in a modified courtroom, with the public gallery separated from the rest of the room by a glass partition. The prisoner's box is enclosed in glass on three sides.
Another courtroom next door has been set aside as an "overflow" facility in anticipation of large crowds wanting to attend.
Pickton has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing in 2003 but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings. He was committed to stand trial after the preliminary hearing in B.C. provincial court.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
The first day of the trial was marked by throngs of media outside the courthouse.
Complicating the already tight security measures was the fact that a large jury pool had to enter the courthouse for an unrelated trial. Several hundred people were in line, some to get into the Pickton trial and some because they were in the jury selection pool for the other trial.
Some native women beat drums outside the courtroom as hundreds of people slowly entered the building.
Everyone entering the courthouse was subjected to a screening process, similar to security checks at airports. Those entering the Pickton courtroom and the overflow courtroom set up for this trial had to undergo a second security check.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
-
Robert Pickton pleaded not guilty in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday to 27 counts of first-degree murder. The charges are in connection with:
Heather Chinnock: Born Nov. 10, 1970. Last seen April 2001 and reported missing the following June. Was convicted in 1997 of soliciting in New Westminster and Burnaby.
Inga Hall: Born Jan. 25, 1952. Last seen February 1998 and reported missing in March of the same year. News report in 1987 said Hall and another woman were charged with robbing bank in Vancouver.
Tanya Holyk: Born Dec. 8, 1975. Last seen October 1996 and reported missing in November 1997. Mother of one, she had been living with her mother.
Sherry Irving: Born March 19, 1973. Last seen April 1997 and reported missing the following March to the Stl'Atl'lmx tribal police near Pemberton. Grew up in Edmonton and Vancouver Island.
Jennifer Furminger: Born Oct. 22, 1971. Last seen Dec. 27, 1999, and reported missing March 30, 2000.
Helen Hallmark: Born June 24, 1966. Last seen June 15, 1997, and reported missing Sept. 23, 1998.
Patricia Johnson: Born Dec. 2, 1976. Last seen March 3, 2001, and reported missing May 31, 2001. Had two tattoos of a rose on the left side of her back, each with the name of her two children inside.
Georgina Papin: Born March 11, 1964. Last seen March 2, 1999, and reported missing March 14, 2001. Had done some writing and art work that contributed to her native culture.
Brenda Wolfe: Born Oct. 20, 1968. Last seen Feb. 1, 1999, and reported missing April 25, 2000.
Andrea Joesbury: Born Nov. 6, 1978. Last seen June 6, 2001, and was reported missing two days later. Her doctor reported that she had failed to pick up her methadone as part of a heroin addiction program in Downtown Eastside.
Heather Bottomley: Born Aug. 17, 1976. Last seen April 17, 2001, and reported missing the same day. Grew up in New Westminster.
Jacqueline McDonell: 26. Last seen Jan. 16, 1999, and reported missing Feb. 22, 1999. Raised in Trail, B.C. and had only lived in Vancouver a short time.
Diane Rock: 34. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001. Formerly of Welland, Ont. Moved to Vancouver with husband and three children.
Sereena Abotsway: Born Aug. 20, 1971. Last seen Aug. 1, 2001, and reported missing Aug. 22, 2001. Raised by foster parents in Surrey, B.C., where she came as a troubled four-year-old.
Mona Wilson: Born Jan. 13, 1975. Last seen Nov. 23, 2001, and reported missing Nov. 30, 2001. One of the last women added to the missing women's list. Struggled with drug addiction and life in the Downtown Eastside.
Tiffany Drew: Born Jan. 31, 1975. Last seen Dec. 31, 1999. Not reported missing until Feb. 8, 2002. Raised in Nanaimo and Port Alberni, B.C.
Marnie Frey: Born August 1973 and disappeared in Vancouver in 1997. Was known drug user and sex-trade worker on Downtown Eastside.
Cynthia Feliks: 43. Disappeared in fall of 1997. Name not added to missing women's list until four years later. Grew up in Surrey. Was a drug user who lived in Downtown Eastside.
Angela Jardine: 27 when she disappeared. Mother said she suffered oxygen deprivation at birth and had tough life growing up in Castlegar. Last seen November 1998 at symposium on drug-related social problems in Downtown Eastside.
Diane Melnick: 23 when last seen in December 1995. Also a known drug user and sex trade worker in Downtown Eastside.
Sarah Devries: Disappeared in April 1998 from area frequented by sex trade workers in Downtown Eastside. Black woman adopted by white parents and grew up city's west side. Sister Maggie wrote a book about Sarah.
Jane Doe: Name for half skull that police found in marshy area near Mission in Fraser Valley. Forensics experts believe skull is woman between ages of 19 and 25.
Cara Ellis: Born April 13, 1971. Last seen in 1997 when she was 25. Reported missing in October 2002. Also went by name of Nikki Trimble.
Debra Jones: 43. Vanished Dec. 21, 2000 and her disappearance was logged by police on Christmas Day. Sister said she was a wonderful musician.
Wendy Crawford: 44. Missing since 1999. Last seen in Downtown Eastside. Mother of two children before she took to the streets. Had resided in Chilliwack prior to Vancouver.
Kerry Koski: 39 when reported missing in January 1998. Brother said she was married with three children but got addicted to heroin. Her sister set up Missing Women Legacy Society in Maple Ridge as refuge for women addicted to drugs and working as prostitutes.
Andrea Borhaven: 25 when she disappeared in 1997. Was known drug user and sex trade worker in Downtown Eastside. Last seen in Greater Vancouver but family reported her missing to Vernon RCMP, where she sometimes lived.
Copyright by Rogers Media Inc.
Activist hopes Pickton trial will raise awareness in Edmonton
CBC.CA News - Full Story :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activist hopes Pickton trial will raise awareness in Edmonton
Last Updated: Jan 30 2006 10:27 AM MST
An activist for aboriginal women hopes the Robert Pickton trial will boost the hunt for a serial killer in the Edmonton area.
The trial of Robert William Pickton, accused of killing 27 women near Vancouver, begins Monday in New Westminster, B.C.
COVERAGE FROM CBC BRITISH COLUMBIA : Pickton murder trial set to start
Muriel Stanley-Venne, head of the Institute for Advancement of Aboriginal Women, says there are similarities between the Pickton case and the unsolved murders of prostitutes around Edmonton.
Most of the female victims in the B.C. case were sex trade workers from Vancouver's Eastside and many were aboriginal.
FROM JAN. 29, 2006: Pickton trial to start Monday
Accused serial killer Robert Pickton
in court in Port Coquitlam, B.C.,
January 2003. (CP PHOTO/Jane Wolsak)
INDEPTH: Robert William Pickton
Stanley-Venne hopes the Pickton trial will make Edmontonians think more about what's happening in their city.
"We've been very anxious to see some results here in Edmonton, or some more clues," she said. "What I'm afraid of is the next body they [might] find."
Of the nearly 70 women now officially listed as missing in B.C., more than a third have some aboriginal ancestry.
Stanley-Venne says 40 per cent of the women murdered in Edmonton were either aboriginal or Métis women.
Pickton's lawyer has said the 56-year-old is expected to plead not guilty.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Activist hopes Pickton trial will raise awareness in Edmonton
Last Updated: Jan 30 2006 10:27 AM MST
An activist for aboriginal women hopes the Robert Pickton trial will boost the hunt for a serial killer in the Edmonton area.
The trial of Robert William Pickton, accused of killing 27 women near Vancouver, begins Monday in New Westminster, B.C.
COVERAGE FROM CBC BRITISH COLUMBIA : Pickton murder trial set to start
Muriel Stanley-Venne, head of the Institute for Advancement of Aboriginal Women, says there are similarities between the Pickton case and the unsolved murders of prostitutes around Edmonton.
Most of the female victims in the B.C. case were sex trade workers from Vancouver's Eastside and many were aboriginal.
FROM JAN. 29, 2006: Pickton trial to start Monday
Accused serial killer Robert Pickton
in court in Port Coquitlam, B.C.,
January 2003. (CP PHOTO/Jane Wolsak)
INDEPTH: Robert William Pickton
Stanley-Venne hopes the Pickton trial will make Edmontonians think more about what's happening in their city.
"We've been very anxious to see some results here in Edmonton, or some more clues," she said. "What I'm afraid of is the next body they [might] find."
Of the nearly 70 women now officially listed as missing in B.C., more than a third have some aboriginal ancestry.
Stanley-Venne says 40 per cent of the women murdered in Edmonton were either aboriginal or Métis women.
Pickton's lawyer has said the 56-year-old is expected to plead not guilty.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Pickton enters not guilty plea - Facing 27 counts of first degree murder
Pickton enters not guilty plea
Facing 27 counts of first degree murder
Greg Joyce
Canadian Press
Monday, January 30, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- Almost four years after his arrest, accused serial killer Robert Pickton -- facing 27 counts of first-degree murder -- entered not-guilty pleas Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
The 56-year-old man was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The not-guilty pleas marked the formal start of Pickton's trial, which will be followed by several months of hearings on the admissibility of evidence held under a strict publication ban.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of family members of women who went missing from the drug-riddled downtown neighbourhood held a quilt carrying the names of their loved ones.
Edna Brass of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre said the group, which formed a long chain to hold the quilt, wanted to raise awareness about what happened to more than 60 sex-trade workers who have disappeared from the area.
"I don't know if we will ever have answers to all the questions," Brass said. "We are here to protest what has happened. It should never have happened."
Leona Phillips, a first cousin of Sherry Irving, who Pickton is accused of murdering, said: "I want to be here to support the women."
It has been four years since Pickton's arrest and the subsequent laying of the 27 charges against him.
Pickton has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
Pickton appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing in 2003 but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings. He was committed to stand trial after the preliminary hearing in B.C. provincial court.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside. Women began disappearing from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
The first day of the trial was marked by throngs of media outside the courtroom.
Complicating the already tight security measures was the fact that a large jury pool had to enter the courthouse for an unrelated trial. Several hundred people were in line, some to get into the Pickton trial and some because they were in the jury selection pool for the other trial.
Some native women beat drums outside the courtroom as hundreds of people slowly entered the building.
Everyone entering the courthouse was subjected to a screening process, similar to security checks at airports. Those entering the Pickton courtroom and the overflow courtroom set up for this trial had to undergo a second security check.
Pickton, who has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone, was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Facing 27 counts of first degree murder
Greg Joyce
Canadian Press
Monday, January 30, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- Almost four years after his arrest, accused serial killer Robert Pickton -- facing 27 counts of first-degree murder -- entered not-guilty pleas Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
The 56-year-old man was arrested in February 2002 by police investigating the disappearance of sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The not-guilty pleas marked the formal start of Pickton's trial, which will be followed by several months of hearings on the admissibility of evidence held under a strict publication ban.
Outside the courthouse, dozens of family members of women who went missing from the drug-riddled downtown neighbourhood held a quilt carrying the names of their loved ones.
Edna Brass of the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre said the group, which formed a long chain to hold the quilt, wanted to raise awareness about what happened to more than 60 sex-trade workers who have disappeared from the area.
"I don't know if we will ever have answers to all the questions," Brass said. "We are here to protest what has happened. It should never have happened."
Leona Phillips, a first cousin of Sherry Irving, who Pickton is accused of murdering, said: "I want to be here to support the women."
It has been four years since Pickton's arrest and the subsequent laying of the 27 charges against him.
Pickton has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
Pickton appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing in 2003 but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings. He was committed to stand trial after the preliminary hearing in B.C. provincial court.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside. Women began disappearing from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
The first day of the trial was marked by throngs of media outside the courtroom.
Complicating the already tight security measures was the fact that a large jury pool had to enter the courthouse for an unrelated trial. Several hundred people were in line, some to get into the Pickton trial and some because they were in the jury selection pool for the other trial.
Some native women beat drums outside the courtroom as hundreds of people slowly entered the building.
Everyone entering the courthouse was subjected to a screening process, similar to security checks at airports. Those entering the Pickton courtroom and the overflow courtroom set up for this trial had to undergo a second security check.
Pickton, who has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone, was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Pickton trial
Pickton trial
The Port Coquitlam pig farmer faces 27 first-degree murder counts
Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Robert (Willy) Pickton, who is accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, is expected to enter a plea in court today on whether he killed 27 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside.
It marks the beginning of Pickton's long trial, which starts with a voir dire phase that will last several months, said Crown counsel spokesman Stan Lowe.
Pickton has never spoken publicly about the charges he faces, since his arrest in February 2002 when police began a 20-month search of his filthy Port Coquitlam pig farm.
Lowe said he anticipates the court hearing will begin with Pickton being read the list of 27 first-degree murder counts he faces, and that he'll respond with pleas of either guilty or not guilty.
Assuming he maintains his innocence, Monday will be the start of his voir dire, a French term whose literal translation is "to see and speak the truth." The media is prohibited from publishing any evidence heard during the voir dire, so the public will not be able to learn any new details about the case in the months to come.
A voir dire is heard by a judge, who will decide which evidence in the case will be presented to a jury and which witnesses will testify.
"The rulings in the voir dire will likely have an impact on the duration of the case, as well as the nature of the case," Lowe said.
The publication ban prohibits future jury members from hearing any evidence that the judge may dismiss, for a variety of legal reasons, during the voir dire.
The RCMP will monitor news organizations, in particular any from the U.S., to ensure no one breaches the ban, said Staff Sgt. John Ward.
Once the voir dire is over, a jury will be selected and a trial date will be set. Although Lowe said it is impossible to know exactly when the trial -- which should not be subject to a publication ban -- will start, many speculate it will not be until September at the earliest.
Because Pickton is charged with first-degree murder, he automatically faces a jury trial, unless the Crown and defence mutually agree that he will be tried by a judge alone, Lowe said.
That happened, for example, in the Air India case when both sides agreed to proceed with a judge alone.
Lowe also wouldn't predict how many months the voir dire could last. However, journalists have signed an agreement with the province to use a media room at the New Westminster courthouse during the voir dire, and that contract lasts for six months.
Much of the evidence to be debated at the voir dire was presented during Pickton's six-month preliminary hearing in 2003. However, if the defence wants to challenge the Charter rights of any of that evidence, it cannot do so until the start of the trial, Lowe said.
Since Pickton's preliminary hearing ended, he has been linked to the courthouse via video-conference for any procedural hearings. However, he is required to attend his trial, and will be in the courtroom Monday.
Courtroom seats have been saved for family members, and there will be a limited number of seats available to the public in the main courtroom and an overflow courtroom.
The courthouse is expected to be a busy place Monday, with many journalists present despite the publication ban.
In addition, the committee that plans the annual Women's Memorial March, held on Valentine's Day to remember the 68 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside, is planning a demonstration in front of the court-house at 9 a.m. Monday to support the victims' families.
"We want to represent our community, and honour the women and their families with our presence, Elders, drums and the Memorial Quilt with over 90 names, that was created in the Downtown Eastside last year as a lasting memorial," said an e-mail advertising the demonstration.
lculbert@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
The Port Coquitlam pig farmer faces 27 first-degree murder counts
Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Robert (Willy) Pickton, who is accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, is expected to enter a plea in court today on whether he killed 27 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside.
It marks the beginning of Pickton's long trial, which starts with a voir dire phase that will last several months, said Crown counsel spokesman Stan Lowe.
Pickton has never spoken publicly about the charges he faces, since his arrest in February 2002 when police began a 20-month search of his filthy Port Coquitlam pig farm.
Lowe said he anticipates the court hearing will begin with Pickton being read the list of 27 first-degree murder counts he faces, and that he'll respond with pleas of either guilty or not guilty.
Assuming he maintains his innocence, Monday will be the start of his voir dire, a French term whose literal translation is "to see and speak the truth." The media is prohibited from publishing any evidence heard during the voir dire, so the public will not be able to learn any new details about the case in the months to come.
A voir dire is heard by a judge, who will decide which evidence in the case will be presented to a jury and which witnesses will testify.
"The rulings in the voir dire will likely have an impact on the duration of the case, as well as the nature of the case," Lowe said.
The publication ban prohibits future jury members from hearing any evidence that the judge may dismiss, for a variety of legal reasons, during the voir dire.
The RCMP will monitor news organizations, in particular any from the U.S., to ensure no one breaches the ban, said Staff Sgt. John Ward.
Once the voir dire is over, a jury will be selected and a trial date will be set. Although Lowe said it is impossible to know exactly when the trial -- which should not be subject to a publication ban -- will start, many speculate it will not be until September at the earliest.
Because Pickton is charged with first-degree murder, he automatically faces a jury trial, unless the Crown and defence mutually agree that he will be tried by a judge alone, Lowe said.
That happened, for example, in the Air India case when both sides agreed to proceed with a judge alone.
Lowe also wouldn't predict how many months the voir dire could last. However, journalists have signed an agreement with the province to use a media room at the New Westminster courthouse during the voir dire, and that contract lasts for six months.
Much of the evidence to be debated at the voir dire was presented during Pickton's six-month preliminary hearing in 2003. However, if the defence wants to challenge the Charter rights of any of that evidence, it cannot do so until the start of the trial, Lowe said.
Since Pickton's preliminary hearing ended, he has been linked to the courthouse via video-conference for any procedural hearings. However, he is required to attend his trial, and will be in the courtroom Monday.
Courtroom seats have been saved for family members, and there will be a limited number of seats available to the public in the main courtroom and an overflow courtroom.
The courthouse is expected to be a busy place Monday, with many journalists present despite the publication ban.
In addition, the committee that plans the annual Women's Memorial March, held on Valentine's Day to remember the 68 women who vanished from the Downtown Eastside, is planning a demonstration in front of the court-house at 9 a.m. Monday to support the victims' families.
"We want to represent our community, and honour the women and their families with our presence, Elders, drums and the Memorial Quilt with over 90 names, that was created in the Downtown Eastside last year as a lasting memorial," said an e-mail advertising the demonstration.
lculbert@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
Wait finally over - Judge weighs evidence in B.C. serial killings
Wait finally over
Judge weighs evidence in B.C. serial killings
By CP
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- Four years after his arrest and the laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert William Pickton enters a new stage today when legal arguments delve into what evidence is ad-missible.
Although the arguments in B.C. Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, today marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has said Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, B.C., whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused has seldom been seen and has said almost nothing since his arrest. He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver. He was in-volved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside. More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, a friend of Sarah de Vries -- a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing -- has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
Lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin legal arguments to determine the admissibility of evidence, known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury."
The voir dire is expected to last several months, Lowe said. The next step involved picking a jury, then the trial will continue.
- - -
THE SUSPECT
ROBERT WILLIAM PICKTON
Born Oct. 24, 1949.
* Location: Pickton lived on seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam.
* Indictment: Pickton charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder, all involving women.
* When: Twenty-seven counts on indictment. Earliest charge dates to 1995; most recent to December 2001.
- - -
KEY DATES IN CASE
* September 1978: Lillian Jean O'Dare, earliest known missing date on list, disappears from Downtown Eastside.
* 1991: Relatives of a growing list of missing women and advocates for sex-trade workers establish annual Valentine's Day remembrance, press for tougher investigation.
* June 1997: Helen Hallmark reported missing.
* September 1998: Vancouver police reviews files of as many as 40 women missing as early as 1971.
* 1999: Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Jennifer Furminger last seen.
* January 1999: Jacqueline McDonell reported missing.
* April 1999: Vancouver police board posts $100,000 reward for information in missing women case.
* March 2001: Patricia Johnson last seen in Downtown Eastside.
* April 2001: Heather Bottomley reported missing.
* August 2001: Sereena Abotsway reported missing.
* September 2001: Vancouver police and RCMP form joint task force -- Project Evenhanded -- to replace city police-stalled investigation.
* October 2001: Diane Rock reported missing.
* November 2001: Mona Wilson reported missing.
* December 2001: Task force investigators travel to Seattle to interview Gary Ridgway, charged in four of 49 Green River homicides in Washington state.
* January 2002: Task force adds five to list, bringing total number of women missing to 50.
* Feb. 5, 2002: RCMP officers, accompanied by missing-women task force members, enter property in suburban Port Coquitlam on firearms warrant.
* Feb. 6, 2002: Task force officers use their own warrant to begin searching property for clues in missing women case.
* Feb. 7, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with weapons offences as search of property continued.
* Feb. 22, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with two counts of first-degree murder -- Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson.
* April 2, 2002: Crown announces three more first-degree charges against Pickton -- Diane Rock, Jacqueline McDonell and Heather Bottomley.
* April 9, 2002: Sixth murder charge laid against Pickton -- Andrea Joesbury.
* April 23, 2002: Karin Joesbury, mother of Andrea, files lawsuits against Pickton, police, the province and the federal government in relation to Andrea's death.
* May 22, 2002: Pickton charged with first-degree murder of Brenda Wolfe.
* June 6, 2002: Police begin excavating Pickton properties with help of archeologists.
* Sept. 19, 2002: Father of missing woman Marcie Creison files lawsuit against police, City of Vancouver, the province and the federal government over investigation. Pickton also charged with four more murders -- Georgina Papin, Helen Hallmark, Patricia Johnson and Jennifer Furminger. List of missing officially grows to 63.
* Oct. 2, 2002: Pickton charged with murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving and Inga Hall.
* Jan. 13, 2003: Preliminary hearing begins in provincial court in Port Coquitlam. It concludes July 21, 2003.
* July 23, 2003: Judge David Stone commits Pickton for trial on 15 counts of first-degree murder.
* Nov. 18, 2003: Investigators wrap up mass excavation and search of Pickton property.
* Feb. 20, 2004: B.C. government reports investigation costs will likely reach $70 million. Funds set aside in the provincial budget.
* March 10, 2004: Health officials can't rule out human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at the Pickton property.
* May 2005: Crown lays 12 more first-degree murder charges.
* June 2005: Pre-trial hearings begin in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, under publication ban.
* October 2005: Pre-trial hearings end.
* Today: Legal arguments begin on admissibility of evidence.
Judge weighs evidence in B.C. serial killings
By CP
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. -- Four years after his arrest and the laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert William Pickton enters a new stage today when legal arguments delve into what evidence is ad-missible.
Although the arguments in B.C. Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, today marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has said Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, B.C., whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused has seldom been seen and has said almost nothing since his arrest. He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, east of Vancouver. He was in-volved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside. More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, a friend of Sarah de Vries -- a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing -- has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
Lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin legal arguments to determine the admissibility of evidence, known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury."
The voir dire is expected to last several months, Lowe said. The next step involved picking a jury, then the trial will continue.
- - -
THE SUSPECT
ROBERT WILLIAM PICKTON
Born Oct. 24, 1949.
* Location: Pickton lived on seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam.
* Indictment: Pickton charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder, all involving women.
* When: Twenty-seven counts on indictment. Earliest charge dates to 1995; most recent to December 2001.
- - -
KEY DATES IN CASE
* September 1978: Lillian Jean O'Dare, earliest known missing date on list, disappears from Downtown Eastside.
* 1991: Relatives of a growing list of missing women and advocates for sex-trade workers establish annual Valentine's Day remembrance, press for tougher investigation.
* June 1997: Helen Hallmark reported missing.
* September 1998: Vancouver police reviews files of as many as 40 women missing as early as 1971.
* 1999: Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Jennifer Furminger last seen.
* January 1999: Jacqueline McDonell reported missing.
* April 1999: Vancouver police board posts $100,000 reward for information in missing women case.
* March 2001: Patricia Johnson last seen in Downtown Eastside.
* April 2001: Heather Bottomley reported missing.
* August 2001: Sereena Abotsway reported missing.
* September 2001: Vancouver police and RCMP form joint task force -- Project Evenhanded -- to replace city police-stalled investigation.
* October 2001: Diane Rock reported missing.
* November 2001: Mona Wilson reported missing.
* December 2001: Task force investigators travel to Seattle to interview Gary Ridgway, charged in four of 49 Green River homicides in Washington state.
* January 2002: Task force adds five to list, bringing total number of women missing to 50.
* Feb. 5, 2002: RCMP officers, accompanied by missing-women task force members, enter property in suburban Port Coquitlam on firearms warrant.
* Feb. 6, 2002: Task force officers use their own warrant to begin searching property for clues in missing women case.
* Feb. 7, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with weapons offences as search of property continued.
* Feb. 22, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with two counts of first-degree murder -- Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson.
* April 2, 2002: Crown announces three more first-degree charges against Pickton -- Diane Rock, Jacqueline McDonell and Heather Bottomley.
* April 9, 2002: Sixth murder charge laid against Pickton -- Andrea Joesbury.
* April 23, 2002: Karin Joesbury, mother of Andrea, files lawsuits against Pickton, police, the province and the federal government in relation to Andrea's death.
* May 22, 2002: Pickton charged with first-degree murder of Brenda Wolfe.
* June 6, 2002: Police begin excavating Pickton properties with help of archeologists.
* Sept. 19, 2002: Father of missing woman Marcie Creison files lawsuit against police, City of Vancouver, the province and the federal government over investigation. Pickton also charged with four more murders -- Georgina Papin, Helen Hallmark, Patricia Johnson and Jennifer Furminger. List of missing officially grows to 63.
* Oct. 2, 2002: Pickton charged with murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving and Inga Hall.
* Jan. 13, 2003: Preliminary hearing begins in provincial court in Port Coquitlam. It concludes July 21, 2003.
* July 23, 2003: Judge David Stone commits Pickton for trial on 15 counts of first-degree murder.
* Nov. 18, 2003: Investigators wrap up mass excavation and search of Pickton property.
* Feb. 20, 2004: B.C. government reports investigation costs will likely reach $70 million. Funds set aside in the provincial budget.
* March 10, 2004: Health officials can't rule out human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at the Pickton property.
* May 2005: Crown lays 12 more first-degree murder charges.
* June 2005: Pre-trial hearings begin in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, under publication ban.
* October 2005: Pre-trial hearings end.
* Today: Legal arguments begin on admissibility of evidence.
Victims' families feel left out in Pickton hearing
Victims' families feel left out in Pickton hearing
Real purpose of aid is 'keeping us quiet'
GLOBEANDMAIL
By PETTI FONG AND ROBERT MATAS
Monday, January 30, 2006
VANCOUVER -- Marilyn Kraft wasn't expecting to hear evidence about her daughter Cindy Feliks at the pretrial hearing in the murder case against Robert (Willy) Pickton.
But when she heard some of the details, she thought she was going to faint.
"My head went down and I kept thinking to myself, 'Don't pass out, don't pass out. Keep it together. Just concentrate,' " Ms. Kraft said. "I was trying just so hard to keep from passing out and then I got a jab."
Next to Ms. Kraft in the courtroom was a victims services worker who gave her the elbow and a stern warning.
"The court doesn't like it when you fall asleep, she tells me," Ms. Kraft said. "I thought: after just hearing that about my daughter, you think I was falling asleep?"
Ms. Kraft has little patience for the victims services workers who have been assigned to help families of the alleged victims.
She believes that, like the police, they're more interested in making excuses than providing answers and counselling and assistance to the families.
A hearing on the admissibility of certain evidence in the Pickton trial begins today.
The B.C. government has provided special services for 200 members of the missing women's families to help them cope with the difficulties, Pardeep Purewal, a spokeswoman for the victims services division, said in an interview.
The government has drawn up "individual support plans based on [each family's] unique needs," she said. "[The government] wants to make sure they get the assistance they need because we know it is a difficult time for them now."
Special areas have been set aside inside and outside the courthouse for the families. A specially trained worker is available for the families at court to provide emotional support "as needed," Ms. Purewal said.
The government has also offered counselling and income support to family members, she said.
The government has provided financial assistance for families to travel to the courthouse in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster to attend the Pickton trial.
A special effort has also been made to ensure that the families are kept informed. A confidential website has been set up and a newsletter is sent out. Ms. Purewal wouldn't reveal the website address or release any of the newsletters, saying the material was directed solely to family members.
The information bulletins are almost meaningless in the help they provide families in knowing what is happening with the accused and the victims, said Ms. Kraft, whose stepdaughter Cindy was 43 when she disappeared in 1997. Her DNA was identified on the Pickton property in 2002.
Lynn Frey, stepmother of Marnie Frey, who also went missing in 1997, said she can understand the need to keep some information from the family. But she questions whether anyone in the trial process is representing the victims and their families.
"I've asked to be informed whenever anything will come up about Marnie. But they're trying to keep secrets from us. They think it's protecting us, but I know it's not protection. It's about keeping us away and keeping us quiet."
Ms. Frey, who lives in Campbell River, two hours away from the New Westminster courthouse, said she can't be there in person every day. She is raising Brittney, the 13-year-old daughter that Marnie left with her father and stepmother to raise.
The complicated case against Mr. Pickton has resulted in many delays and adjournments since his arrest in February, 2002. The former pig farmer is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The women were mainly sex workers, addicted to drugs, but who have left behind families angry that their disappearance went unnoticed for years.
"I hope to God they remember the victims in that courtroom," Ms. Frey said. "The family isn't getting any answers and I don't think the courts and the prosecutors and these victims services people really want family members in there. But I'm not getting any reassurance that if we're not, Marnie and these other girls are going to be represented."
© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Real purpose of aid is 'keeping us quiet'
GLOBEANDMAIL
By PETTI FONG AND ROBERT MATAS
Monday, January 30, 2006
VANCOUVER -- Marilyn Kraft wasn't expecting to hear evidence about her daughter Cindy Feliks at the pretrial hearing in the murder case against Robert (Willy) Pickton.
But when she heard some of the details, she thought she was going to faint.
"My head went down and I kept thinking to myself, 'Don't pass out, don't pass out. Keep it together. Just concentrate,' " Ms. Kraft said. "I was trying just so hard to keep from passing out and then I got a jab."
Next to Ms. Kraft in the courtroom was a victims services worker who gave her the elbow and a stern warning.
"The court doesn't like it when you fall asleep, she tells me," Ms. Kraft said. "I thought: after just hearing that about my daughter, you think I was falling asleep?"
Ms. Kraft has little patience for the victims services workers who have been assigned to help families of the alleged victims.
She believes that, like the police, they're more interested in making excuses than providing answers and counselling and assistance to the families.
A hearing on the admissibility of certain evidence in the Pickton trial begins today.
The B.C. government has provided special services for 200 members of the missing women's families to help them cope with the difficulties, Pardeep Purewal, a spokeswoman for the victims services division, said in an interview.
The government has drawn up "individual support plans based on [each family's] unique needs," she said. "[The government] wants to make sure they get the assistance they need because we know it is a difficult time for them now."
Special areas have been set aside inside and outside the courthouse for the families. A specially trained worker is available for the families at court to provide emotional support "as needed," Ms. Purewal said.
The government has also offered counselling and income support to family members, she said.
The government has provided financial assistance for families to travel to the courthouse in the Vancouver suburb of New Westminster to attend the Pickton trial.
A special effort has also been made to ensure that the families are kept informed. A confidential website has been set up and a newsletter is sent out. Ms. Purewal wouldn't reveal the website address or release any of the newsletters, saying the material was directed solely to family members.
The information bulletins are almost meaningless in the help they provide families in knowing what is happening with the accused and the victims, said Ms. Kraft, whose stepdaughter Cindy was 43 when she disappeared in 1997. Her DNA was identified on the Pickton property in 2002.
Lynn Frey, stepmother of Marnie Frey, who also went missing in 1997, said she can understand the need to keep some information from the family. But she questions whether anyone in the trial process is representing the victims and their families.
"I've asked to be informed whenever anything will come up about Marnie. But they're trying to keep secrets from us. They think it's protecting us, but I know it's not protection. It's about keeping us away and keeping us quiet."
Ms. Frey, who lives in Campbell River, two hours away from the New Westminster courthouse, said she can't be there in person every day. She is raising Brittney, the 13-year-old daughter that Marnie left with her father and stepmother to raise.
The complicated case against Mr. Pickton has resulted in many delays and adjournments since his arrest in February, 2002. The former pig farmer is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The women were mainly sex workers, addicted to drugs, but who have left behind families angry that their disappearance went unnoticed for years.
"I hope to God they remember the victims in that courtroom," Ms. Frey said. "The family isn't getting any answers and I don't think the courts and the prosecutors and these victims services people really want family members in there. But I'm not getting any reassurance that if we're not, Marnie and these other girls are going to be represented."
© Copyright 2006 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
B.C. serial murder trial begins
B.C. serial murder trial begins
Pickton to plead not guilty in slayings of 27 women: Lawyer
Arguments in B.C. court to take place under publication ban
Jan. 30, 2006. 06:52 AM
GREG JOYCE
CANADIAN PRESS
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.—Four years after his arrest and the subsequent laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters a new stage today when legal arguments delve into what evidence is admissible.
Although the arguments in British Columbia Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, today marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has confirmed in a newspaper interview that Pickton will also enter a not-guilty plea today. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, B.C., whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused is largely a mystery to the public because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, B.C., about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses, including pig farming, on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside.
More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, who was a friend of Sarah de Vries — a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing — has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton, who was expected to be in court for the legal arguments, has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
There will be tight security and an expected throng of reporters at B.C. Supreme Court today when lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin the legal arguments in what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial, when they determine admissibility of evidence.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury, and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
That means reporters attending the voir dire arguments cannot publish or broadcast anything said in the courtroom.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various legal arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury.
"Once that is set aside the process will then involve the picking of a jury and the trial will commence," Lowe added. "What we anticipate is that the voir dires will last several months."
Mark JanVrem, a spokesman for Sheriff Services and the Pickton trial, said there appeared to be little media interest from outside Greater Vancouver in the coming stage of the trial. He said he believed many media outlets were waiting for the portion of the trial to begin in which evidence can be published.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But last May, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/
Pickton to plead not guilty in slayings of 27 women: Lawyer
Arguments in B.C. court to take place under publication ban
Jan. 30, 2006. 06:52 AM
GREG JOYCE
CANADIAN PRESS
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C.—Four years after his arrest and the subsequent laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters a new stage today when legal arguments delve into what evidence is admissible.
Although the arguments in British Columbia Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, today marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has confirmed in a newspaper interview that Pickton will also enter a not-guilty plea today. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, B.C., whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused is largely a mystery to the public because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, B.C., about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses, including pig farming, on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside.
More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, who was a friend of Sarah de Vries — a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing — has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton, who was expected to be in court for the legal arguments, has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
There will be tight security and an expected throng of reporters at B.C. Supreme Court today when lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin the legal arguments in what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial, when they determine admissibility of evidence.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury, and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
That means reporters attending the voir dire arguments cannot publish or broadcast anything said in the courtroom.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various legal arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury.
"Once that is set aside the process will then involve the picking of a jury and the trial will commence," Lowe added. "What we anticipate is that the voir dires will last several months."
Mark JanVrem, a spokesman for Sheriff Services and the Pickton trial, said there appeared to be little media interest from outside Greater Vancouver in the coming stage of the trial. He said he believed many media outlets were waiting for the portion of the trial to begin in which evidence can be published.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But last May, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/
Accused serial killer Pickton expected to plead not gulty
Accused serial-killer Pickton expected to plead not guilty
PoCo pig farmer faces 27 first-degree murder charges
Ethan baron
The Province
Monday, January 30, 2006
Robert Pickton, accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, is expected to appear today in a New Westminster court to plead not guilty to murdering 27 women.
Pickton, 56, who ran a pig-butchering business on his Port Coquitlam property, is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 women linked to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside sex trade.
"This is a horrific, horrific story," said Rick Frey of Campbell River, whose daughter Marnie was one of the women Pickton is accused of killing.
Frey said he would welcome a not-guilty plea.
"It's important that this thing goes the full duration, as ugly and gory as it's going to be," Frey said. "All the questions that we've been asking have to be answered."
Sixty-eight women have vanished from the eastside. Investigators found DNA from 31 of them on the Pickton property.
Today, arguments are set to begin in B.C. Supreme Court over what material will be allowed as evidence in Pickton's trial.
"I'm just glad that it's finally underway," said Sandra Gagnon, sister of Janet Henry, who went missing from the eastside but is not included in the Pickton indictment. "But it's tough, regardless."
The evidence-related proceedings, called a voir dire, are covered by a publication ban that prohibits reporting details of court proceedings. An addition to the standard voir-dire ban outlaws publication on the Internet as well.
The voir dire is expected to last six months, with the trial proper starting in the fall.
Rick Frey is hoping the trial will shed light not only on the fate of his daughter and other missing women, but on the initial "shoddy" police response to women going missing.
At the courthouse, sheriffs have put in place extra security, with metal detectors and search points at the entrances to both the courtroom and the courthouse.
The main courtroom has been modified for the trial, with a single seat-box for the accused and bullet-proof windows on three sides of the box and by separating the courtroom from the gallery.
A special overflow courtroom has been equipped with closed-circuit TV to accommodate the expected flood of media and members of the public.
The B.C. government has also furnished a media room in an office building nearby, with allocated spaces for news outlets from around North America. Each outlet will pay a fee to use the space.
More than 200 journalists have been issued accreditation to cover the trial. The special photo-ID accreditation allows access to 15 seats reserved for media in the main courtroom gallery, which holds 50 people, and to 35 of 106 seats in the overflow courtroom.
Two local sketch artists are expected to spell each other off in one of the 15 reserved seats in the main room to provide images for the media. Photography and TV filming is prohibited inside the courtroom.
In addition to news outlets from across Canada, the New York Times and the Washington Post have indicated they will cover the trial.
ebaron@png.canwest.com
Ran with sidebar "Downtown Eastside missing-women's investigation in a nutshell" on page A3.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
PoCo pig farmer faces 27 first-degree murder charges
Ethan baron
The Province
Monday, January 30, 2006
Robert Pickton, accused of being Canada's worst serial killer, is expected to appear today in a New Westminster court to plead not guilty to murdering 27 women.
Pickton, 56, who ran a pig-butchering business on his Port Coquitlam property, is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 women linked to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside sex trade.
"This is a horrific, horrific story," said Rick Frey of Campbell River, whose daughter Marnie was one of the women Pickton is accused of killing.
Frey said he would welcome a not-guilty plea.
"It's important that this thing goes the full duration, as ugly and gory as it's going to be," Frey said. "All the questions that we've been asking have to be answered."
Sixty-eight women have vanished from the eastside. Investigators found DNA from 31 of them on the Pickton property.
Today, arguments are set to begin in B.C. Supreme Court over what material will be allowed as evidence in Pickton's trial.
"I'm just glad that it's finally underway," said Sandra Gagnon, sister of Janet Henry, who went missing from the eastside but is not included in the Pickton indictment. "But it's tough, regardless."
The evidence-related proceedings, called a voir dire, are covered by a publication ban that prohibits reporting details of court proceedings. An addition to the standard voir-dire ban outlaws publication on the Internet as well.
The voir dire is expected to last six months, with the trial proper starting in the fall.
Rick Frey is hoping the trial will shed light not only on the fate of his daughter and other missing women, but on the initial "shoddy" police response to women going missing.
At the courthouse, sheriffs have put in place extra security, with metal detectors and search points at the entrances to both the courtroom and the courthouse.
The main courtroom has been modified for the trial, with a single seat-box for the accused and bullet-proof windows on three sides of the box and by separating the courtroom from the gallery.
A special overflow courtroom has been equipped with closed-circuit TV to accommodate the expected flood of media and members of the public.
The B.C. government has also furnished a media room in an office building nearby, with allocated spaces for news outlets from around North America. Each outlet will pay a fee to use the space.
More than 200 journalists have been issued accreditation to cover the trial. The special photo-ID accreditation allows access to 15 seats reserved for media in the main courtroom gallery, which holds 50 people, and to 35 of 106 seats in the overflow courtroom.
Two local sketch artists are expected to spell each other off in one of the 15 reserved seats in the main room to provide images for the media. Photography and TV filming is prohibited inside the courtroom.
In addition to news outlets from across Canada, the New York Times and the Washington Post have indicated they will cover the trial.
ebaron@png.canwest.com
Ran with sidebar "Downtown Eastside missing-women's investigation in a nutshell" on page A3.
© The Vancouver Province 2006
Sunday, January 29
Legal arguments begin in B.C. court Monday in trial of accused serial killer
Legal arguments begin in B.C. court Monday in trial of accused serial killer
Greg Joyce
Canadian Press
Sunday, January 29, 2006
This is a artist's drawing of Robert Pickton appearing on a video link to B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, Wednesday May 25, 2005.(CP/Jane Wolsack)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - Four years after his arrest and the subsequent laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters a new stage Monday when legal arguments delve into what evidence is admissible.
Although the arguments in B.C. Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, Monday marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has confirmed in an interview with the Globe and Mail that Pickton will also enter a not-guilty plea on Monday. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years. He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused is largely a mystery to the public because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-tumble Downtown Eastside. More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, who was a friend of Sarah de Vries - a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing - has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton, who was expected to be in court for the legal arguments, has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
There will be tight security and an expected throng of reporters at B.C. Supreme Court on Monday when lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin the legal arguments in what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
"Monday will be the start of the voir dires and they are hearings before a court to determine admissibility of evidence," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban."
That means reporters attending the voir dire arguments cannot publish or broadcast anything said in the courtroom.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various legal arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury."
"Once that is set aside the process will then involve the picking of a jury and the trial will commence."
"What we anticipate is that the voir dires will last several months," said Lowe.
Mark JanVrem, a spokesman for Sheriff Services and the Pickton trial, said there appeared to be little media interest from outside Greater Vancouver in the coming stage of the trial.
He said he believed many media outlets were waiting for the portion of the trial to begin in which evidence can be published.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Greg Joyce
Canadian Press
Sunday, January 29, 2006
This is a artist's drawing of Robert Pickton appearing on a video link to B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, Wednesday May 25, 2005.(CP/Jane Wolsack)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - Four years after his arrest and the subsequent laying of 27 charges of first-degree murder, the case against accused serial killer Robert Pickton enters a new stage Monday when legal arguments delve into what evidence is admissible.
Although the arguments in B.C. Supreme Court could take months and will take place under a publication ban, Monday marks the formal start of the trial of Pickton, a 56-year-old who has remained a mystery to the media and the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer.
His lawyer, Peter Ritchie, has confirmed in an interview with the Globe and Mail that Pickton will also enter a not-guilty plea on Monday. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on the weekend.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the 27 women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has been in custody for almost four years. He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
The accused is largely a mystery to the public because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
He is accused of killing women who were mostly from the rough-tumble Downtown Eastside. More than 60 have disappeared from the neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Wayne Leng, who was a friend of Sarah de Vries - a woman whom Pickton is accused of killing - has kept a website devoted to the missing women for several years.
He said some family members of some victims may attend at different times as the legal arguments move forward.
"They (relatives) are looking for the main trial," said Leng, who now resides in San Bernardino, Calif.
"It's such a huge deal and it's been going on for so long. It's creating a lot of anxiety and suffering for all those involved."
Pickton, who was expected to be in court for the legal arguments, has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.
There will be tight security and an expected throng of reporters at B.C. Supreme Court on Monday when lawyers for Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin the legal arguments in what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
"Monday will be the start of the voir dires and they are hearings before a court to determine admissibility of evidence," Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said.
"A voir dire is held in the absence of the jury and the evidence at a voir dire is subject usually to a publication ban."
That means reporters attending the voir dire arguments cannot publish or broadcast anything said in the courtroom.
Lowe said the judge, after hearing various legal arguments from both sides, will make rulings "with respect to what evidence is admissible and can be placed before the jury."
"Once that is set aside the process will then involve the picking of a jury and the trial will commence."
"What we anticipate is that the voir dires will last several months," said Lowe.
Mark JanVrem, a spokesman for Sheriff Services and the Pickton trial, said there appeared to be little media interest from outside Greater Vancouver in the coming stage of the trial.
He said he believed many media outlets were waiting for the portion of the trial to begin in which evidence can be published.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Pig farm trial chronology and quick facts
Pig farm trial chronology and quick facts
Canadian Press
Sunday, January 29, 2006
(CP) - Some key dates in the case of more than 60 women missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside:
September 1978: Lillian Jean O'Dare, earliest known missing date on list, disappears from Downtown Eastside.
1991: Relatives of a growing list of missing women, along with advocates for sex-trade workers, establish annual Valentine's Day remembrance, press for tougher police investigation.
June 1997: Helen Hallmark reported missing.
September 1998: Vancouver police set up team to review files of as many as 40 women missing as far back as 1971.
January 1999: Jacqueline McDonell reported missing.
Sometime in 1999: Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Jennifer Furminger last seen.
April 1999: Vancouver police board posts $100,000 reward for information in missing women case.
March 2001: Patricia Johnson last seen in Downtown Eastside.
April 2001: Heather Bottomley reported missing.
August 2001: Sereena Abotsway reported missing.
September 2001: Vancouver police and RCMP form joint task force - Project Evenhanded - to replace city police stalled investigation.
October 2001: Diane Rock reported missing.
November 2001: Mona Wilson reported missing.
December 2001: Task force investigators travel to Seattle to interview Gary Ridgway, charged in four of 49 Green River homicides in Washington state.
January 2002: Task force adds five names to list, bringing total number of women missing to 50.
Feb. 5, 2002: RCMP officers, accompanied by missing-women task force members, enter property in suburban Port Coquitlam on firearms warrant.
Feb. 6, 2002: Task force officers use their own warrant to begin searching property for clues in missing women case.
Feb. 7, 2002: Robert Pickton, one of two brothers who own property along with sister, charged with weapons offences as search of property continued.
Feb. 22, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with two counts of first-degree murder - Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson.
April 2, 2002: Crown announces three more first-degree charges against Pickton - Diane Rock, Jacqueline McDonell and Heather Bottomley.
April 9, 2002: Sixth murder charge laid against Pickton - Andrea Joesbury.
April 23, 2002: Karin Joesbury, mother of Andrea, files lawsuits against Pickton, police, the province and the federal government in relation to Andrea's death.
May 22, 2002: Pickton charged with first-degree murder of Brenda Wolfe.
June 6, 2002: Police begin excavating Pickton properties with help of archeologists.
Sept. 19, 2002: Father of missing woman Marcie Creison files lawsuit against police, City of Vancouver, the province and the federal government over investigation.
Sept. 19, 2002: Pickton charged with four more murders - Georgina Papin, Helen Hallmark, Patricia Johnson and Jennifer Furminger. List of missing officially grows to 63.
Oct. 2, 2002: Pickton charged with murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving and Inga Hall.
Jan. 13, 2003: Preliminary hearing begins in provincial court in Port Coquitlam.
July 21, 2003: Hearing concludes.
July 23, 2003: Judge David Stone commits Pickton for trial on 15 counts of first-degree murder.
Nov. 18, 2003: Investigators wrap up mass excavation and search of Pickton property.
Feb. 20, 2004: B.C. government reports investigation costs will likely run up to $70 million and that the money has been set aside in the provincial budget.
March 10, 2004: Health officials report they cannot rule out that human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at the Pickton property.
May 2005: Crown lays 12 more first-degree murder charges.
June 2005: Pre-trial hearings begin in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, under publication ban.
October 2005: Pre-trial hearings end.
Jan. 30, 2006: Legal arguments begin on admissibility of evidence.
-
Some facts and figures regarding the case of accused serial killer Robert Pickton.
Who: Robert William Pickton, born Oct. 24, 1949.
Location: Pickton lived on seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam owned by him, his brother and sister. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
Indictment: Pickton charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder, all involving women.
When: Twenty-seven counts on indictment include earliest charge dating to 1995; most recent to December 2001.
Preliminary hearing: January to July 2003 in provincial court; committed to stand trial.
Trial: Legal arguments to determine what evidence is admissible to start Jan. 30 under a publication ban.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Canadian Press
Sunday, January 29, 2006
(CP) - Some key dates in the case of more than 60 women missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside:
September 1978: Lillian Jean O'Dare, earliest known missing date on list, disappears from Downtown Eastside.
1991: Relatives of a growing list of missing women, along with advocates for sex-trade workers, establish annual Valentine's Day remembrance, press for tougher police investigation.
June 1997: Helen Hallmark reported missing.
September 1998: Vancouver police set up team to review files of as many as 40 women missing as far back as 1971.
January 1999: Jacqueline McDonell reported missing.
Sometime in 1999: Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe and Jennifer Furminger last seen.
April 1999: Vancouver police board posts $100,000 reward for information in missing women case.
March 2001: Patricia Johnson last seen in Downtown Eastside.
April 2001: Heather Bottomley reported missing.
August 2001: Sereena Abotsway reported missing.
September 2001: Vancouver police and RCMP form joint task force - Project Evenhanded - to replace city police stalled investigation.
October 2001: Diane Rock reported missing.
November 2001: Mona Wilson reported missing.
December 2001: Task force investigators travel to Seattle to interview Gary Ridgway, charged in four of 49 Green River homicides in Washington state.
January 2002: Task force adds five names to list, bringing total number of women missing to 50.
Feb. 5, 2002: RCMP officers, accompanied by missing-women task force members, enter property in suburban Port Coquitlam on firearms warrant.
Feb. 6, 2002: Task force officers use their own warrant to begin searching property for clues in missing women case.
Feb. 7, 2002: Robert Pickton, one of two brothers who own property along with sister, charged with weapons offences as search of property continued.
Feb. 22, 2002: Robert Pickton charged with two counts of first-degree murder - Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson.
April 2, 2002: Crown announces three more first-degree charges against Pickton - Diane Rock, Jacqueline McDonell and Heather Bottomley.
April 9, 2002: Sixth murder charge laid against Pickton - Andrea Joesbury.
April 23, 2002: Karin Joesbury, mother of Andrea, files lawsuits against Pickton, police, the province and the federal government in relation to Andrea's death.
May 22, 2002: Pickton charged with first-degree murder of Brenda Wolfe.
June 6, 2002: Police begin excavating Pickton properties with help of archeologists.
Sept. 19, 2002: Father of missing woman Marcie Creison files lawsuit against police, City of Vancouver, the province and the federal government over investigation.
Sept. 19, 2002: Pickton charged with four more murders - Georgina Papin, Helen Hallmark, Patricia Johnson and Jennifer Furminger. List of missing officially grows to 63.
Oct. 2, 2002: Pickton charged with murders of Heather Chinnock, Tanya Holyk, Sherry Irving and Inga Hall.
Jan. 13, 2003: Preliminary hearing begins in provincial court in Port Coquitlam.
July 21, 2003: Hearing concludes.
July 23, 2003: Judge David Stone commits Pickton for trial on 15 counts of first-degree murder.
Nov. 18, 2003: Investigators wrap up mass excavation and search of Pickton property.
Feb. 20, 2004: B.C. government reports investigation costs will likely run up to $70 million and that the money has been set aside in the provincial budget.
March 10, 2004: Health officials report they cannot rule out that human remains may have been in meat processed for human consumption at the Pickton property.
May 2005: Crown lays 12 more first-degree murder charges.
June 2005: Pre-trial hearings begin in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, under publication ban.
October 2005: Pre-trial hearings end.
Jan. 30, 2006: Legal arguments begin on admissibility of evidence.
-
Some facts and figures regarding the case of accused serial killer Robert Pickton.
Who: Robert William Pickton, born Oct. 24, 1949.
Location: Pickton lived on seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam owned by him, his brother and sister. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
Indictment: Pickton charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder, all involving women.
When: Twenty-seven counts on indictment include earliest charge dating to 1995; most recent to December 2001.
Preliminary hearing: January to July 2003 in provincial court; committed to stand trial.
Trial: Legal arguments to determine what evidence is admissible to start Jan. 30 under a publication ban.
© The Canadian Press 2006
Pickton trial to start Monday
C B C . C A N e w s - F u l l S t o r y :
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pickton trial to start Monday
Last Updated Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:11:33 EST
CBC News
The trial of Robert Pickton, accused of killing 27 women, begins Monday in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C.
His lawyer has said he is expected to plead not guilty.
The proceedings will start with arguments over what evidence can be admitted, a process that's expected to take several months alone. Reporters are not allowed to disclose material presented in these arguments because it may be ruled inadmissable.
Pickton has been in jail for nearly four years.
Before he was arrested in February 2002, Pickton lived on a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, just east of Vancouver.
FROM MAY 25, 2005: Robert Pickton faces 12 more murder charges
Pickton was originally charged with 15 counts, but another 12 charges were laid in May 2005.
Most of the victims were sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pickton trial to start Monday
Last Updated Sun, 29 Jan 2006 16:11:33 EST
CBC News
The trial of Robert Pickton, accused of killing 27 women, begins Monday in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C.
His lawyer has said he is expected to plead not guilty.
The proceedings will start with arguments over what evidence can be admitted, a process that's expected to take several months alone. Reporters are not allowed to disclose material presented in these arguments because it may be ruled inadmissable.
Pickton has been in jail for nearly four years.
Before he was arrested in February 2002, Pickton lived on a pig farm in Port Coquitlam, just east of Vancouver.
FROM MAY 25, 2005: Robert Pickton faces 12 more murder charges
Pickton was originally charged with 15 counts, but another 12 charges were laid in May 2005.
Most of the victims were sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Copyright ©2006 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - All Rights Reserved
Court File Number: 65319-2
New Westminster Registry
May 25, 2005
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
DANS LA COUR SUPREME DE LA COLOMBIE-BRIT ANNIQUE CANADA,
PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA/PROVINCE de 1a COLOMBIE-BRIT ANNIQUE,
CITY OF New Westminster / NILLE DE New Westminster.
SUPREME COURT of BRITSH COLUMBIA
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN / SA MAJESTE LA REINE
AGAINST / CONTRE
ROBERT PICKTON
INDICTMENT / ACTE D'ACCDSATION
Robert PICKTON stands charged that / est inculpe de ce qui suit:
Count 1
Robert PICKTON, between the 18th day of July, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sereena Abotsway contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 2
Robert PICKTON, between the 1st day of December, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Mona Wilson contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 3
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of January, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jacqueline McDonell, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 4
Robert PICKTON, between the 19th day of October, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Diane Rock, contrary Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 5
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of March, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Heather Bottomley, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 6
Robert PICKTON, between the 5th day of June, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Andrea Joesbury, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 7
Robert PICKTON, between the 5th day of March, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Brenda Ann Wolfe, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 8
Robert PICKTON, between the 27th day of December, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jennifer Lynn Furminger contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 9
Robert PICKTON, between the 15th day of June, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Helen Mae Hallmark contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 10
Robert PICKTON, between the 27th day of February, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Patricia Rose Johnson contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 11
Robert PICKTON, between the 1st day of March, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Georgina Faith Papin contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 12
Robert PICKTON, between the 15th day of April, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Heather Chinnock, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 13
Robert PICKTON, between the 29th day of October, 1996 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Tanya Holyk, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 14
Robert PICKTON, between the 18th day of March, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sherry Irving, contrary to Section 235(I) of the Criminal Code.
Count 15
Robert PICKTON, between the 26th day of February, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Inga Hall, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 16
Robert PICKTON, between the 30th day of August, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Marnie Frey, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 17
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of August, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Tiffany Drew, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 18
Robert PICKTON, between the 13th day of April, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sarah de Vries, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 19
Robert PICKTON, between the 26th day of November, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Cynthia Feliks, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 20
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of November, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Angela Jardine, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 21
Robert PICKTON, between the 22nd day of December, 1995 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Diana Melnick, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 22
Robert PICKTON, before the 23rd day of February, 1995, at or near Port Coquit1am, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jane Doe, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 23
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of December, 2000 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Debra Lynne Jones, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 24
Robert PICKTON, between the 24th day of November, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Wendy Crawford, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 25
Robert PICKTON, between the 2nd day of January, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Kerry Koski, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 26
Robert PICKTON, between the 10th day of March, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Andrea Borhaven, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 27
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of January, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Cara Ellis, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
AND AGAINST THE PEACE OF OUR LADY THE QUEEN, HER CROWN AND DIGNITY
DATED THIS / DATE 25th day of /jour de May, 2005, at / a Victoria
Counsel and Agent of the Attorney General of British
Columbia / Agent de procureur general pour la Province
de la Colombie-Britannique
New Westminster Registry
May 25, 2005
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA
DANS LA COUR SUPREME DE LA COLOMBIE-BRIT ANNIQUE CANADA,
PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA/PROVINCE de 1a COLOMBIE-BRIT ANNIQUE,
CITY OF New Westminster / NILLE DE New Westminster.
SUPREME COURT of BRITSH COLUMBIA
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN / SA MAJESTE LA REINE
AGAINST / CONTRE
ROBERT PICKTON
INDICTMENT / ACTE D'ACCDSATION
Robert PICKTON stands charged that / est inculpe de ce qui suit:
Count 1
Robert PICKTON, between the 18th day of July, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sereena Abotsway contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 2
Robert PICKTON, between the 1st day of December, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Mona Wilson contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 3
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of January, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jacqueline McDonell, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 4
Robert PICKTON, between the 19th day of October, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Diane Rock, contrary Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 5
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of March, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Heather Bottomley, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 6
Robert PICKTON, between the 5th day of June, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Andrea Joesbury, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 7
Robert PICKTON, between the 5th day of March, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Brenda Ann Wolfe, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 8
Robert PICKTON, between the 27th day of December, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jennifer Lynn Furminger contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 9
Robert PICKTON, between the 15th day of June, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Helen Mae Hallmark contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 10
Robert PICKTON, between the 27th day of February, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Patricia Rose Johnson contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 11
Robert PICKTON, between the 1st day of March, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Georgina Faith Papin contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 12
Robert PICKTON, between the 15th day of April, 2001 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Heather Chinnock, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 13
Robert PICKTON, between the 29th day of October, 1996 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Tanya Holyk, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 14
Robert PICKTON, between the 18th day of March, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sherry Irving, contrary to Section 235(I) of the Criminal Code.
Count 15
Robert PICKTON, between the 26th day of February, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Inga Hall, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 16
Robert PICKTON, between the 30th day of August, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Marnie Frey, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 17
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of August, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Tiffany Drew, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 18
Robert PICKTON, between the 13th day of April, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Sarah de Vries, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 19
Robert PICKTON, between the 26th day of November, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Cynthia Feliks, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 20
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of November, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Angela Jardine, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 21
Robert PICKTON, between the 22nd day of December, 1995 and the 5th day of February, 2002, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Diana Melnick, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 22
Robert PICKTON, before the 23rd day of February, 1995, at or near Port Coquit1am, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Jane Doe, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 23
Robert PICKTON, between the 21st day of December, 2000 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Debra Lynne Jones, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 24
Robert PICKTON, between the 24th day of November, 1999 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Wendy Crawford, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 25
Robert PICKTON, between the 2nd day of January, 1998 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Kerry Koski, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 26
Robert PICKTON, between the 10th day of March, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Andrea Borhaven, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
Count 27
Robert PICKTON, between the 20th day of January, 1997 and the 5th day of February, 2002, inclusive, at or near Port Coquitlam, in the Province of British Columbia, did commit the first degree murder of Cara Ellis, contrary to Section 235(1) of the Criminal Code.
AND AGAINST THE PEACE OF OUR LADY THE QUEEN, HER CROWN AND DIGNITY
DATED THIS / DATE 25th day of /jour de May, 2005, at / a Victoria
Counsel and Agent of the Attorney General of British
Columbia / Agent de procureur general pour la Province
de la Colombie-Britannique
Saturday, January 28
Grieving family and friends now must face the upcoming Pickton trial
Children of Vancouver's missing women
Grieving family and friends now must face the upcoming Pickton trial
Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Just inside the front door of the de Vries family's southwestern Ontario home, the photographs of the beautiful young woman with her baby and toddler are hanging low on the wall.
They're at eye level for those children, now a few years older, to look at every day as they come home from school: The curly-haired woman reading a Winnie the Pooh book as her four-year-old daughter gazes happily at the camera, and another shot of the woman laughing as she proudly holds up a grinning five-month-old boy.
"When they come home with their friends, the pictures are right at their level. When people say, 'Why do you live with your grandmother and so on,' they can say, 'That's my mother right there,'" said Pat de Vries, who is raising her grandchildren Jeannie, 15, and Ben, 9.
Their mother is Sarah de Vries, one of 68 women who disappeared between 1978 and 2001 from Vancouver's seedy Downtown Eastside.
Those women have left behind treasured memories of the last time they were seen by family and friends; as-yet unanswered questions about what happened to them and many children who have become precious reminders of lost lives.
It is estimated the 68 missing women altogether had about 75 children -- some quite young, some school-aged and some adults -- when they vanished.
It is those children, along with many other grieving relatives, who are facing a new and difficult phase in this horrible tale: The trial of Robert (Willy) Pickton, who is accused of killing 27 of the women, starts Monday.
It begins with the voir dire, a portion of the trial that is expected to last several months and will determine what evidence can be heard by a jury.
Reporters cannot publish any details heard during the voir dire, so family members will not yet be subjected to disturbing headlines or TV news stories about the alleged fate of the missing women.
Pat de Vries has been honest with her grandchildren about her daughter Sarah's lifestyle and that police believe she was killed on Pickton's Port Coquitlam pig farm. But she's glad they won't be inundated yet with daily news in this portion of the trial.
She, like the caregivers of the other missing women's children, will decide later this year how to best prepare her grandchildren for that eventuality.
Jeannie is old enough to understand some of the complicated facets of her mother's lifestyle, but Ben "has no idea what prostitution is all about."
"It's hard to know what's in his head. I do know that he has fears -- he's more aware of the fact that there are bad guys in the world than most little boys are. He knows it for a certainty, not just for an imagination thing," de Vries said.
The backgrounds of the missing women -- some came from poverty, others from middle-class families -- were as varied as the reasons that led to them to drug addictions and prostitution.
But despite their challenges, many of the women shared a common thread of dedication to their children. Some were raising the youngsters when they disappeared, while others kept in regular contact as relatives looked after their kids.
In many of the cases, it was the children not hearing from their mothers that led relatives to file missing person reports with police.
Tanya Holyk's family knew something was wrong when she didn't come home in October 1996, after a night out with friends, to see her boy, who was about to turn one. Pickton has since been charged with her murder.
Yvonne Boen's mother, Lynn Metin, began to worry when her daughter, who had three sons, failed to show up in March 2001 for a visit with her middle son Troy, who Metin is raising.
"She was supposed to be here that Sunday to pick him up and she didn't show up," Metin told The Sun in 2004. "She never contacted me. That just wasn't her. Every holiday, Troy's birthday, my birthday -- it just wasn't like her not to phone."
Boen's DNA was found on Pickton's farm, although police haven't charged him with her murder because there isn't sufficient evidence.
Jack Cummer says his granddaughter Andrea Joesbury, who Pickton is accused of murdering, was straightening out her life and providing a good home to her infant daughter in an East Vancouver apartment before her disappearance in June, 2001.
"She was working very hard, she needed a lot of things, but she was doing it all herself," Cummer said in an interview.
"Andrea was worn to a frazzle, but the baby was well cared for."
However, he said, social services received a complaint about the well-being of the girl and seized her, which sent Joesbury into a downward spiral of drugs and prostitution.
"The thing is that she lost her whole reason to live," Cummer said, wondering if that was the case for some of the other victims.
"They were women, individuals, who unfortunately got lured into or abused into a different life, but an underlying factor is that if they were a mother they worshipped the ground their kids walked on."
The baby, who would now be about seven years old, was adopted and the Cummers are not able to see her. Joesbury, he said, either didn't realize or wouldn't accept the finality of the adoption, and would tell her grandparents that she was going to try to get her daughter back.
"She decided that she was going to straighten up and her prime objective was to get the baby back. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was never going to do that," he said.
When missing woman Marnie Frey had a baby girl at 18 years old, she asked her parents Lynn and Rick Frey to adopt Brittney.
"She said, 'Mom, this is the only thing I can do for her. I love her dearly, but I know I can't look after her as a mom,' " Lynn Frey recalled.
Because Marnie didn't want Brittney to think she didn't love her, the family told the girl, who is now 13, that Marnie was her older sister. But the Freys were forced to tell Brittney the truth two years ago when schoolyard bullies questioned her about her mother's identity following the publicity around Pickton's arrest for Marnie's murder, Lynn Frey said.
She now often tells Brittney: "Marnie was an awesome mom, she loved you with all her heart and that's why she gave you up for adoption because she knew she was addicted to drugs and her life was going down the wrong path, and she didn't want anything to happen to you."
Brittney was in kindergarten when Frey disappeared in September 1997, and has sketchy memories of her mother. The Freys have only one photograph of Marnie and Brittney together, because Marnie took her pictures to Vancouver and her belongings have never been found.
"They are so much alike," Lynn Frey said. "They have the same mannerisms, they have the same walk, they have the same attitude."
While some families will choose to keep children far from Pickton's trial, Lynn Frey believes Brittney needs to hear some some information -- although no disturbing details -- in court.
"I told her she can do a victim impact [statement] when the time comes, so she's started and she's got a binder full already. She's angry, she's really angry," Lynn Frey said. "Marnie didn't deserve to die. Marnie was a good person."
The provincial government's Victim Services and Community Programs division offers assistance to families as they grapple with traumatic events. There are several support workers who are dedicated to the missing women case, and have been helping relatives prepare for the trial, which could last more than a year.
"They've been working with the family members in preparing the entire family for this process, and working with the family about what works best for their unique situation," said victims services communications coordinator Pardeep Purewal.
"They've been ... preparing them with case information, preparing them for information that could potentially come out in the media, any emotional support."
The program offers relatives counselling, travel assistance to attend the trial, and respite areas in the New Westminster court house where they can go for breaks. There are other victims' services provided by the agency across B.C., as well as a multi-lingual 24-hour crisis support line called victimLINK at 1-800-563-0808.
"This is a very difficult time for the family members, and our role is to help them through that process. I think it's important to balance the information that needs to be presented to the public with the sensitivity to the needs of the family," she said.
"Respecting their concerns for the children involved, and other family members."
Purewal said more than 200 family members of the missing women have accessed help from victim services.
Indeed, some of the missing women, like Cindy Feliks who Pickton is accused of murdering, left behind not only children but grandchildren, and many others had nieces and nephews.
There is concern that two nieces of missing woman Dawn Crey, whose DNA has been found on Pickton's farm, could follow their aunt's same devastating path.
Dawn's brother Ernie Crey is locked in a battle with the government over the foster care given to the daughters of another Crey sister, Sherry, who also fell into drugs and prostitution. The troubled girls, aged 13 and 14, were kicked out of a native-agency foster home, and Crey is demanding the Ministry for Children and Families take over the case and find them another home before it is too late.
"People have asked me over the years, how does your sister and these other women end up in the Downtown Eastside in the first place," Ernie Crey said. "I say, 'Look, right now I have two nieces who are heading down the same road if there isn't intervention from the ministry in their lives.... When is it going to stop?' "
Some of the missing women's children have escaped the cycle of poverty, violence and drugs that claimed their mothers, while others have fallen into it. Their experiences are as diverse as their mothers'.
Other women Pickton has been accused of murdering who left behind children include Heather Bottomley, Jacqueline McDonell, Heather Chinnock, and Georgina Papin, who had six children.
Kerry Koski was married and raising three teenage children in a middle-class family, while Dianne Rock was also married, had a good job and five children, when drugs took over their lives.
It was Rock's daughter Carol Ann's 14th birthday when she last saw her mother in June 2001, and when the woman disappeared four months later the teenager walked the streets of the Downtown Eastside looking for her.
"I just wanted to find her, she was really important to me," the teenager told the Welland Tribune newspaper in Ontario, where she now lives.
There are also children out there of the 40 women who are still missing, such as Janet Henry's daughter Debra Chartier, now 20, who has been trying to locate her mother since her disappearance in June 1997.
She posted a letter on the website missingpeople.net, expressing frustration that society doesn't seem interested in helping her find her mother.
"My mom is an important part of my life even though she did have some problems and wasn't there most of the time. I don't plan to follow in her footsteps. I don't plan to be better than her either. Nobody's perfect. But I do plan to fight for her until she's found," Chartier wrote.
"I don't see how she could have run off because I know she loves me.... She won't see me graduate and she won't be at my wedding if I get married. All the important stuff she won't be there. I bet if she could see it all then she'd have been proud of me."
Jeannie de Vries has been raised by her grandmother since birth, and the last time she saw her mother she was about six years old. She holds dear a few memories, and asks occasional questions about the woman she resembles so much.
"Jeannie is interested in how much she's like her. Did she have acne, or was she good at singing," Pat de Vries says with a kind laugh.
Both Jeannie and Ben have challenges in life, but are doing well and participating in extracurricular activities.
Pat de Vries is relieved she decided years ago to move from Vancouver back to her home town in Ontario, where she hopes the trial in this sensational case will not receive as much publicity as in B.C. That, perhaps, will protect her grandchildren from some future pain.
"I think it's easier for them to grow up far away," she said. "And I'm especially glad during all this that we're not there."
lculbert@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
Grieving family and friends now must face the upcoming Pickton trial
Lori Culbert
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Just inside the front door of the de Vries family's southwestern Ontario home, the photographs of the beautiful young woman with her baby and toddler are hanging low on the wall.
They're at eye level for those children, now a few years older, to look at every day as they come home from school: The curly-haired woman reading a Winnie the Pooh book as her four-year-old daughter gazes happily at the camera, and another shot of the woman laughing as she proudly holds up a grinning five-month-old boy.
"When they come home with their friends, the pictures are right at their level. When people say, 'Why do you live with your grandmother and so on,' they can say, 'That's my mother right there,'" said Pat de Vries, who is raising her grandchildren Jeannie, 15, and Ben, 9.
Their mother is Sarah de Vries, one of 68 women who disappeared between 1978 and 2001 from Vancouver's seedy Downtown Eastside.
Those women have left behind treasured memories of the last time they were seen by family and friends; as-yet unanswered questions about what happened to them and many children who have become precious reminders of lost lives.
It is estimated the 68 missing women altogether had about 75 children -- some quite young, some school-aged and some adults -- when they vanished.
It is those children, along with many other grieving relatives, who are facing a new and difficult phase in this horrible tale: The trial of Robert (Willy) Pickton, who is accused of killing 27 of the women, starts Monday.
It begins with the voir dire, a portion of the trial that is expected to last several months and will determine what evidence can be heard by a jury.
Reporters cannot publish any details heard during the voir dire, so family members will not yet be subjected to disturbing headlines or TV news stories about the alleged fate of the missing women.
Pat de Vries has been honest with her grandchildren about her daughter Sarah's lifestyle and that police believe she was killed on Pickton's Port Coquitlam pig farm. But she's glad they won't be inundated yet with daily news in this portion of the trial.
She, like the caregivers of the other missing women's children, will decide later this year how to best prepare her grandchildren for that eventuality.
Jeannie is old enough to understand some of the complicated facets of her mother's lifestyle, but Ben "has no idea what prostitution is all about."
"It's hard to know what's in his head. I do know that he has fears -- he's more aware of the fact that there are bad guys in the world than most little boys are. He knows it for a certainty, not just for an imagination thing," de Vries said.
The backgrounds of the missing women -- some came from poverty, others from middle-class families -- were as varied as the reasons that led to them to drug addictions and prostitution.
But despite their challenges, many of the women shared a common thread of dedication to their children. Some were raising the youngsters when they disappeared, while others kept in regular contact as relatives looked after their kids.
In many of the cases, it was the children not hearing from their mothers that led relatives to file missing person reports with police.
Tanya Holyk's family knew something was wrong when she didn't come home in October 1996, after a night out with friends, to see her boy, who was about to turn one. Pickton has since been charged with her murder.
Yvonne Boen's mother, Lynn Metin, began to worry when her daughter, who had three sons, failed to show up in March 2001 for a visit with her middle son Troy, who Metin is raising.
"She was supposed to be here that Sunday to pick him up and she didn't show up," Metin told The Sun in 2004. "She never contacted me. That just wasn't her. Every holiday, Troy's birthday, my birthday -- it just wasn't like her not to phone."
Boen's DNA was found on Pickton's farm, although police haven't charged him with her murder because there isn't sufficient evidence.
Jack Cummer says his granddaughter Andrea Joesbury, who Pickton is accused of murdering, was straightening out her life and providing a good home to her infant daughter in an East Vancouver apartment before her disappearance in June, 2001.
"She was working very hard, she needed a lot of things, but she was doing it all herself," Cummer said in an interview.
"Andrea was worn to a frazzle, but the baby was well cared for."
However, he said, social services received a complaint about the well-being of the girl and seized her, which sent Joesbury into a downward spiral of drugs and prostitution.
"The thing is that she lost her whole reason to live," Cummer said, wondering if that was the case for some of the other victims.
"They were women, individuals, who unfortunately got lured into or abused into a different life, but an underlying factor is that if they were a mother they worshipped the ground their kids walked on."
The baby, who would now be about seven years old, was adopted and the Cummers are not able to see her. Joesbury, he said, either didn't realize or wouldn't accept the finality of the adoption, and would tell her grandparents that she was going to try to get her daughter back.
"She decided that she was going to straighten up and her prime objective was to get the baby back. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was never going to do that," he said.
When missing woman Marnie Frey had a baby girl at 18 years old, she asked her parents Lynn and Rick Frey to adopt Brittney.
"She said, 'Mom, this is the only thing I can do for her. I love her dearly, but I know I can't look after her as a mom,' " Lynn Frey recalled.
Because Marnie didn't want Brittney to think she didn't love her, the family told the girl, who is now 13, that Marnie was her older sister. But the Freys were forced to tell Brittney the truth two years ago when schoolyard bullies questioned her about her mother's identity following the publicity around Pickton's arrest for Marnie's murder, Lynn Frey said.
She now often tells Brittney: "Marnie was an awesome mom, she loved you with all her heart and that's why she gave you up for adoption because she knew she was addicted to drugs and her life was going down the wrong path, and she didn't want anything to happen to you."
Brittney was in kindergarten when Frey disappeared in September 1997, and has sketchy memories of her mother. The Freys have only one photograph of Marnie and Brittney together, because Marnie took her pictures to Vancouver and her belongings have never been found.
"They are so much alike," Lynn Frey said. "They have the same mannerisms, they have the same walk, they have the same attitude."
While some families will choose to keep children far from Pickton's trial, Lynn Frey believes Brittney needs to hear some some information -- although no disturbing details -- in court.
"I told her she can do a victim impact [statement] when the time comes, so she's started and she's got a binder full already. She's angry, she's really angry," Lynn Frey said. "Marnie didn't deserve to die. Marnie was a good person."
The provincial government's Victim Services and Community Programs division offers assistance to families as they grapple with traumatic events. There are several support workers who are dedicated to the missing women case, and have been helping relatives prepare for the trial, which could last more than a year.
"They've been working with the family members in preparing the entire family for this process, and working with the family about what works best for their unique situation," said victims services communications coordinator Pardeep Purewal.
"They've been ... preparing them with case information, preparing them for information that could potentially come out in the media, any emotional support."
The program offers relatives counselling, travel assistance to attend the trial, and respite areas in the New Westminster court house where they can go for breaks. There are other victims' services provided by the agency across B.C., as well as a multi-lingual 24-hour crisis support line called victimLINK at 1-800-563-0808.
"This is a very difficult time for the family members, and our role is to help them through that process. I think it's important to balance the information that needs to be presented to the public with the sensitivity to the needs of the family," she said.
"Respecting their concerns for the children involved, and other family members."
Purewal said more than 200 family members of the missing women have accessed help from victim services.
Indeed, some of the missing women, like Cindy Feliks who Pickton is accused of murdering, left behind not only children but grandchildren, and many others had nieces and nephews.
There is concern that two nieces of missing woman Dawn Crey, whose DNA has been found on Pickton's farm, could follow their aunt's same devastating path.
Dawn's brother Ernie Crey is locked in a battle with the government over the foster care given to the daughters of another Crey sister, Sherry, who also fell into drugs and prostitution. The troubled girls, aged 13 and 14, were kicked out of a native-agency foster home, and Crey is demanding the Ministry for Children and Families take over the case and find them another home before it is too late.
"People have asked me over the years, how does your sister and these other women end up in the Downtown Eastside in the first place," Ernie Crey said. "I say, 'Look, right now I have two nieces who are heading down the same road if there isn't intervention from the ministry in their lives.... When is it going to stop?' "
Some of the missing women's children have escaped the cycle of poverty, violence and drugs that claimed their mothers, while others have fallen into it. Their experiences are as diverse as their mothers'.
Other women Pickton has been accused of murdering who left behind children include Heather Bottomley, Jacqueline McDonell, Heather Chinnock, and Georgina Papin, who had six children.
Kerry Koski was married and raising three teenage children in a middle-class family, while Dianne Rock was also married, had a good job and five children, when drugs took over their lives.
It was Rock's daughter Carol Ann's 14th birthday when she last saw her mother in June 2001, and when the woman disappeared four months later the teenager walked the streets of the Downtown Eastside looking for her.
"I just wanted to find her, she was really important to me," the teenager told the Welland Tribune newspaper in Ontario, where she now lives.
There are also children out there of the 40 women who are still missing, such as Janet Henry's daughter Debra Chartier, now 20, who has been trying to locate her mother since her disappearance in June 1997.
She posted a letter on the website missingpeople.net, expressing frustration that society doesn't seem interested in helping her find her mother.
"My mom is an important part of my life even though she did have some problems and wasn't there most of the time. I don't plan to follow in her footsteps. I don't plan to be better than her either. Nobody's perfect. But I do plan to fight for her until she's found," Chartier wrote.
"I don't see how she could have run off because I know she loves me.... She won't see me graduate and she won't be at my wedding if I get married. All the important stuff she won't be there. I bet if she could see it all then she'd have been proud of me."
Jeannie de Vries has been raised by her grandmother since birth, and the last time she saw her mother she was about six years old. She holds dear a few memories, and asks occasional questions about the woman she resembles so much.
"Jeannie is interested in how much she's like her. Did she have acne, or was she good at singing," Pat de Vries says with a kind laugh.
Both Jeannie and Ben have challenges in life, but are doing well and participating in extracurricular activities.
Pat de Vries is relieved she decided years ago to move from Vancouver back to her home town in Ontario, where she hopes the trial in this sensational case will not receive as much publicity as in B.C. That, perhaps, will protect her grandchildren from some future pain.
"I think it's easier for them to grow up far away," she said. "And I'm especially glad during all this that we're not there."
lculbert@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
Vancouver braces for Pickton trial
Vancouver braces for Pickton trial
Media onslaught expected as accused serial killer's case opens
Brian Hutchinson
National Post
Saturday, January 28, 2006
VANCOUVER - The world will be watching and for once, this city is not looking forward to being in the spotlight.
Four years after his arrest, and more than a decade after dozens of women began disappearing from Vancouver's streets, accused serial murderer Robert William Pickton finally goes to trial on Monday.
Mr. Pickton is charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder. He is alleged to have lured women from Vancouver's drug-riddled Downtown Eastside to his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, a suburb, from 1995 to 2001. They were never seen again but painstaking efforts were made to collect pieces of their remains, including miniscule samples of DNA, from the Pickton farm.
Police and forensic scientists spent years putting together a case against the 55-year-old bachelor, who was once known to neighbours and customers as "Uncle Willy." For years, Mr. Pickton sold pig meat from his farm direct to friends and local butchers; he and his brother, David Francis Pickton, frequently hosted pig roasts on another property nearby, inside a shed called the Piggy Palace.
After William Pickton was apprehended and accused of murder in February, 2002, fears were raised that pigs sold from his farm may have consumed human remains.
Prosecutors and members of Mr. Pickton's defence team spent months in pre-trial hearings, held inside a courtroom in New Westminster, another Vancouver suburb. That process was completed last autumn. Next week, should Mr. Pickton enter a plea of not guilty, lawyers will begin to argue before a judge the admissibility of evidence they hope to enter during the trial. That process is expected to last at least two months. Opening statements will be made, and the Crown will begin its case against Mr. Pickton.
The public can then expect to be fed a steady diet of gruesome, macabre details. Interest in the case is intense and far-reaching. Dozens of reporters from the Vancouver area, Washington State, and even abroad had to formally apply for court access months ahead of Monday's trial date.
Relatives and friends of Mr. Pickton's 27 alleged murder victims will also be in attendance; they want to know more about how various police investigations were conducted. Members of the Vancouver police and the RCMP were criticized for their work leading up to Mr. Pickton's arrest.
At least 50 women, many of them sex workers, vanished from the Downtown Eastside before the first murder charges against Mr. Pickton were laid. However, in 1997, he was charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute at his squalid pig farm. It was alleged he stabbed the woman in the stomach. The charge was eventually stayed and the disappearances continued.
All will soon come out, a prospect some courtroom aficionados have anticipated with relish. Others, such as unscrupulous U.S. filmmakers, jumped the gun and have begun to exploit the Pickton case.
American-based horror film schlockmeister Ulli Lommel has already shot a movie based on the "shocking true story." A synopsis for the low-budget film, called Killer Pickton, describes in gruesome detail how the central character--"a pig farm maniac" named Billy -- disposed of his victims.
Attempts to locate Mr. Lommel yesterday were unsuccessful. Reached via telephone at her home in Boston, one of the film's actors refused to comment on the project and hung up when asked how she was cast. The movie was completed in October and is expected to be released on video and DVD, not in public theatres.
The trial, meanwhile, will last at least one year and it certain to be the subject of both scrutiny and distress.
Criminal cases that involve allegations of serial murder are always sensational, even in Canada, where rules of disclosure are strict and where pre-trial publicity is contained.
Sometimes they bring shame. People here still shudder at the notoriety local serial child killer Clifford Olsen brought to the community. In 1982, after negotiating with the Crown in a series of cash payments to his wife in exchange for self-incriminating information, the Vancouver native pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder.
Local shopkeepers, municipal workers and court officials are bracing for the media onslaught. This month, the City of New Westminster held information sessions for residents and business owners, sharing with them plans to control an expected surge in vehicle traffic and parking demands.
The Pickton trial will do nothing to enhance their community's image, even though the alleged murders took place elsewhere. Vancouver's image may also be tarnished. The city prides itself on its natural splendour, and tourism is a major industry here. But there are fears that violent crime, much of it drug related, is already scaring visitors away.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese consulate in Vancouver posted a travel alert on its Web site, warning tourists from China to watch their valuables and passports when roaming the city. Soon people will be hearing and reading about pigs, missing prostitutes and Mr. Pickton, and for a long time to come. His trial is welcome; justice must be done. But the daily reports will be dreadful.
© National Post 2006
Media onslaught expected as accused serial killer's case opens
Brian Hutchinson
National Post
Saturday, January 28, 2006
VANCOUVER - The world will be watching and for once, this city is not looking forward to being in the spotlight.
Four years after his arrest, and more than a decade after dozens of women began disappearing from Vancouver's streets, accused serial murderer Robert William Pickton finally goes to trial on Monday.
Mr. Pickton is charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder. He is alleged to have lured women from Vancouver's drug-riddled Downtown Eastside to his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, a suburb, from 1995 to 2001. They were never seen again but painstaking efforts were made to collect pieces of their remains, including miniscule samples of DNA, from the Pickton farm.
Police and forensic scientists spent years putting together a case against the 55-year-old bachelor, who was once known to neighbours and customers as "Uncle Willy." For years, Mr. Pickton sold pig meat from his farm direct to friends and local butchers; he and his brother, David Francis Pickton, frequently hosted pig roasts on another property nearby, inside a shed called the Piggy Palace.
After William Pickton was apprehended and accused of murder in February, 2002, fears were raised that pigs sold from his farm may have consumed human remains.
Prosecutors and members of Mr. Pickton's defence team spent months in pre-trial hearings, held inside a courtroom in New Westminster, another Vancouver suburb. That process was completed last autumn. Next week, should Mr. Pickton enter a plea of not guilty, lawyers will begin to argue before a judge the admissibility of evidence they hope to enter during the trial. That process is expected to last at least two months. Opening statements will be made, and the Crown will begin its case against Mr. Pickton.
The public can then expect to be fed a steady diet of gruesome, macabre details. Interest in the case is intense and far-reaching. Dozens of reporters from the Vancouver area, Washington State, and even abroad had to formally apply for court access months ahead of Monday's trial date.
Relatives and friends of Mr. Pickton's 27 alleged murder victims will also be in attendance; they want to know more about how various police investigations were conducted. Members of the Vancouver police and the RCMP were criticized for their work leading up to Mr. Pickton's arrest.
At least 50 women, many of them sex workers, vanished from the Downtown Eastside before the first murder charges against Mr. Pickton were laid. However, in 1997, he was charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute at his squalid pig farm. It was alleged he stabbed the woman in the stomach. The charge was eventually stayed and the disappearances continued.
All will soon come out, a prospect some courtroom aficionados have anticipated with relish. Others, such as unscrupulous U.S. filmmakers, jumped the gun and have begun to exploit the Pickton case.
American-based horror film schlockmeister Ulli Lommel has already shot a movie based on the "shocking true story." A synopsis for the low-budget film, called Killer Pickton, describes in gruesome detail how the central character--"a pig farm maniac" named Billy -- disposed of his victims.
Attempts to locate Mr. Lommel yesterday were unsuccessful. Reached via telephone at her home in Boston, one of the film's actors refused to comment on the project and hung up when asked how she was cast. The movie was completed in October and is expected to be released on video and DVD, not in public theatres.
The trial, meanwhile, will last at least one year and it certain to be the subject of both scrutiny and distress.
Criminal cases that involve allegations of serial murder are always sensational, even in Canada, where rules of disclosure are strict and where pre-trial publicity is contained.
Sometimes they bring shame. People here still shudder at the notoriety local serial child killer Clifford Olsen brought to the community. In 1982, after negotiating with the Crown in a series of cash payments to his wife in exchange for self-incriminating information, the Vancouver native pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder.
Local shopkeepers, municipal workers and court officials are bracing for the media onslaught. This month, the City of New Westminster held information sessions for residents and business owners, sharing with them plans to control an expected surge in vehicle traffic and parking demands.
The Pickton trial will do nothing to enhance their community's image, even though the alleged murders took place elsewhere. Vancouver's image may also be tarnished. The city prides itself on its natural splendour, and tourism is a major industry here. But there are fears that violent crime, much of it drug related, is already scaring visitors away.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese consulate in Vancouver posted a travel alert on its Web site, warning tourists from China to watch their valuables and passports when roaming the city. Soon people will be hearing and reading about pigs, missing prostitutes and Mr. Pickton, and for a long time to come. His trial is welcome; justice must be done. But the daily reports will be dreadful.
© National Post 2006
Pickton expected to plead not guilty as legal arguments begin in B.C.
Pickton expected to plead not guilty as legal arguments begin in B.C.
01/28/2006
Associated Press
Robert Pickton's trial begins Monday on 27 charges of first-degree murder, most involving drug-addicted women in the Vancouver sex trade, and a published report says he will plead not guilty.
Pickton's lawyer, Peter Ritchie of Vancouver, confirmed in an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail that Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea. He declined to elaborate, and could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Pickton, 56, of Port Coquitlam near Vancouver, was arrested in February 2002. He was initially charged with two counts of murder. More charges were filed as the investigation progressed at the family pig farm, where remains of many victims were found.
On Monday, a judge will hear Pickton's plea at the formal start of the trial and begin hearing legal arguments about what evidence is admissible. Those arguments and the evidence will be heard under a publication ban.
The public portion of Pickton's trial is months away, but for families of the women who vanished, the formal start is a welcome development. More than 60 women have disappeared from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside since the early 1980s. Most of the victims named in the Pickton case disappeared since 1995.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for his trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," Frey said. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has remained a mystery to the public. He has seldom been seen since his arrest and has said virtually nothing. He was ordered to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003. He appeared in court daily for that proceeding, but responded tersely to questions.
He is expected to be in court Monday.
Dozens of investigators, aided by forensic anthropologists, took apart every building on the pig farm and sifted through hundreds of tons of dirt looking for evidence. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Vancouver police's Missing Women Task Force have processed more than 100,000 DNA swabs and thousands of pieces of forensic evidence since the investigation began.
The half-year preliminary hearing in the case was covered by one of the most stringent publication bans in Canadian history, including prohibitions against posting information about evidence on the Internet.
01/28/2006
Associated Press
Robert Pickton's trial begins Monday on 27 charges of first-degree murder, most involving drug-addicted women in the Vancouver sex trade, and a published report says he will plead not guilty.
Pickton's lawyer, Peter Ritchie of Vancouver, confirmed in an interview with the Toronto Globe and Mail that Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea. He declined to elaborate, and could not be reached for comment Saturday.
Pickton, 56, of Port Coquitlam near Vancouver, was arrested in February 2002. He was initially charged with two counts of murder. More charges were filed as the investigation progressed at the family pig farm, where remains of many victims were found.
On Monday, a judge will hear Pickton's plea at the formal start of the trial and begin hearing legal arguments about what evidence is admissible. Those arguments and the evidence will be heard under a publication ban.
The public portion of Pickton's trial is months away, but for families of the women who vanished, the formal start is a welcome development. More than 60 women have disappeared from the rough-and-tumble Downtown Eastside since the early 1980s. Most of the victims named in the Pickton case disappeared since 1995.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for his trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," Frey said. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has remained a mystery to the public. He has seldom been seen since his arrest and has said virtually nothing. He was ordered to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003. He appeared in court daily for that proceeding, but responded tersely to questions.
He is expected to be in court Monday.
Dozens of investigators, aided by forensic anthropologists, took apart every building on the pig farm and sifted through hundreds of tons of dirt looking for evidence. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Vancouver police's Missing Women Task Force have processed more than 100,000 DNA swabs and thousands of pieces of forensic evidence since the investigation began.
The half-year preliminary hearing in the case was covered by one of the most stringent publication bans in Canadian history, including prohibitions against posting information about evidence on the Internet.
Pickton reported to plead not guilty
January 28, 2006
Pickton reported to plead not guilty
By GREG JOYCE
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - With Robert Pickton facing the start of his trial Monday on 27 murder charges involving drug-addicted women working in the sex trade, a report says the accused serial killer will plead not guilty.
Pickton's lawyer, Peter Ritchie, confirmed in an interview with the Globe and Mail that Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea, but he would not elaborate. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
The 56-year-old is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of 27 women, most of them sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Pickton was arrested in February 2003 and initially charged with two counts of murder. More charges were filed as the investigation progressed.
On Monday, a judge will hear Pickton's plea at the formal start of his trial and begin hearing legal arguments into what evidence is admissible. Those arguments and the evidence before the court will be heard under a publication ban.
The public portion of Pickton's trial is still months away, but for the families of the women who went missing from the streets of Vancouver so many years ago, the next phase of the legal process is a welcome development.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has remained a mystery to the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
He appeared in court daily during the hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
More than 60 women have disappeared from the rough-tumble Downtown Eastside neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Pickton - who hasn't elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone - is expected to be in court Monday.
Tight security is also anticipated at B.C. Supreme Court when Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
Pickton reported to plead not guilty
By GREG JOYCE
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - With Robert Pickton facing the start of his trial Monday on 27 murder charges involving drug-addicted women working in the sex trade, a report says the accused serial killer will plead not guilty.
Pickton's lawyer, Peter Ritchie, confirmed in an interview with the Globe and Mail that Pickton will enter a not-guilty plea, but he would not elaborate. Ritchie could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
The 56-year-old is accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of 27 women, most of them sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
Pickton was arrested in February 2003 and initially charged with two counts of murder. More charges were filed as the investigation progressed.
On Monday, a judge will hear Pickton's plea at the formal start of his trial and begin hearing legal arguments into what evidence is admissible. Those arguments and the evidence before the court will be heard under a publication ban.
The public portion of Pickton's trial is still months away, but for the families of the women who went missing from the streets of Vancouver so many years ago, the next phase of the legal process is a welcome development.
Lynn Frey of Campbell River, whose stepdaughter Marnie Frey is among the women Pickton is accused of killing, said the long wait for a trial has been "pure hell."
"She's been missing since 1997 and it's been four years since his arrest," said Frey. "I just want this to be over so we can carry on with our life because it's been such a prolonged episode."
Pickton has remained a mystery to the public despite being accused of being Canada's worst serial killer because he has seldom been seen and has said virtually nothing since his arrest.
He was committed by a provincial court judge to stand trial following a preliminary hearing in 2003.
He appeared in court daily during the hearing but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
Prior to his arrest, Pickton lived on a seven-hectare property in Port Coquitlam, about a 45-minute drive east of Vancouver. He was involved in several businesses on the property.
During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.
More than 60 women have disappeared from the rough-tumble Downtown Eastside neighbourhood since the early 1980s.
Pickton - who hasn't elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone - is expected to be in court Monday.
Tight security is also anticipated at B.C. Supreme Court when Pickton's defence team and the Crown begin what is known as the voir dire portion of the trial.
Pickton was committed to stand trial on 15 murder counts following the preliminary hearing. But in May 2005, the number of first-degree murder charges was increased to 27.
Victim's sister outraged by Pickton movie
Victim's sister outraged by Pickton movie
David Carrigg
The Province
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
The sister of one of Vancouver's missing women is outraged a movie has allegedly been made based on accused serial killer Robert Pickton.
"I'm really disgusted," said Sandra Gagnon, sister of Janet Henry, who was last seen in the Downtown Eastside in mid-1997.
"They don't think about the mothers, the daughters, the sisters left behind. How could they be so cold?"
Gagnon said she was told about the impending release of the low-budget movie by former Vancouverite Wayne Leng. Gagnon said the movie is called Killer Pickton, despite the fact Pickton, 55, has not been convicted.
Leng was a friend of missing woman Sarah deVries and operates a California-based website in honour of the missing women.
Gagnon said Leng directed her to a website that says Killer Pickton was made in 2005 and is produced by well-known gore filmmaker Ulli Lommel.
The website does not instruct viewers how to purchase the movie.
Pickton, who ran a pig-butchering business on his family's Port Coquitlam farm, is charged with first-degree murder of 27 women linked to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside sex trade.
The voir dire portion of Pickton's trial is to begin Jan. 30 during which defence and Crown lawyers will argue over admissibility of material.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said he will inform the Missing Women's Task Force about the alleged movie. If the movie is distributed, Lowe said, it may be in breach of a court order banning any publication of certain evidence surrounding the Pickton case.
dcarrigg@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
David Carrigg
The Province
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
The sister of one of Vancouver's missing women is outraged a movie has allegedly been made based on accused serial killer Robert Pickton.
"I'm really disgusted," said Sandra Gagnon, sister of Janet Henry, who was last seen in the Downtown Eastside in mid-1997.
"They don't think about the mothers, the daughters, the sisters left behind. How could they be so cold?"
Gagnon said she was told about the impending release of the low-budget movie by former Vancouverite Wayne Leng. Gagnon said the movie is called Killer Pickton, despite the fact Pickton, 55, has not been convicted.
Leng was a friend of missing woman Sarah deVries and operates a California-based website in honour of the missing women.
Gagnon said Leng directed her to a website that says Killer Pickton was made in 2005 and is produced by well-known gore filmmaker Ulli Lommel.
The website does not instruct viewers how to purchase the movie.
Pickton, who ran a pig-butchering business on his family's Port Coquitlam farm, is charged with first-degree murder of 27 women linked to Vancouver's Downtown Eastside sex trade.
The voir dire portion of Pickton's trial is to begin Jan. 30 during which defence and Crown lawyers will argue over admissibility of material.
Crown spokesman Stan Lowe said he will inform the Missing Women's Task Force about the alleged movie. If the movie is distributed, Lowe said, it may be in breach of a court order banning any publication of certain evidence surrounding the Pickton case.
dcarrigg@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
New West prepares for Pickton trial
New West prepares for Pickton trial
Owners worried about impact
David Carrigg
The Province
Friday, January 20, 2006
About 40 New Westminster business owners turned out last night in search of answers to how the upcoming Robert Pickton trial will affect their livelihoods.
Sharon Wood, speaking for several business owners in her building at Carnarvon and 6th Street, said the meeting was the first time they've been briefed on the trial, which is set to start Jan. 30 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
"It's 11 days to countdown and this is the first we've heard of it," Wood said.
Her major concerns were members of the media, "gawkers" and victims' families taking up parking spaces in front of her business.
Woods said any time there's a high-profile case at the New Westminster court her business suffers by as much as 35 per cent.
Don Bales, of the provincial attorney-general's sheriff services division, said a deal had been struck with the media not to park on public streets.
"We'll be dealing with a large number of people coming into the downtown core," said Bales, who did not have an estimate on how many people that might be.
"This is an exceptional trial because we expect a significant amount of international media."
There were concerns, however, that the international media may not respect the deal struck with local media to keep their vehicles in designated places.
The 40 business owners who attended the meeting were also told searches of anyone entering the courthouse during the trial would be intense due to the large amount of contraband seized during Pickton's pretrial hearings in Coquitlam.
Pickton is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 sex-trade workers who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The voir dire stage of the trial begins Jan. 30.
dcarrigg@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
Owners worried about impact
David Carrigg
The Province
Friday, January 20, 2006
About 40 New Westminster business owners turned out last night in search of answers to how the upcoming Robert Pickton trial will affect their livelihoods.
Sharon Wood, speaking for several business owners in her building at Carnarvon and 6th Street, said the meeting was the first time they've been briefed on the trial, which is set to start Jan. 30 in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
"It's 11 days to countdown and this is the first we've heard of it," Wood said.
Her major concerns were members of the media, "gawkers" and victims' families taking up parking spaces in front of her business.
Woods said any time there's a high-profile case at the New Westminster court her business suffers by as much as 35 per cent.
Don Bales, of the provincial attorney-general's sheriff services division, said a deal had been struck with the media not to park on public streets.
"We'll be dealing with a large number of people coming into the downtown core," said Bales, who did not have an estimate on how many people that might be.
"This is an exceptional trial because we expect a significant amount of international media."
There were concerns, however, that the international media may not respect the deal struck with local media to keep their vehicles in designated places.
The 40 business owners who attended the meeting were also told searches of anyone entering the courthouse during the trial would be intense due to the large amount of contraband seized during Pickton's pretrial hearings in Coquitlam.
Pickton is charged with the first-degree murder of 27 sex-trade workers who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The voir dire stage of the trial begins Jan. 30.
dcarrigg@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
World media expected to join courthouse crowd
Businesses to be briefed on impact of Pickton trial
World media expected to join courthouse crowd
Lora Grindlay
The Province
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The New Westminster business community will be briefed at a meeting tonight on how the Pickton murder trial may impact their businesses.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the theatre of the Justice Institute of B.C. at 715 McBride Blvd. Hosted by the B.C. government and the City of New Westminster, its agenda will include planning and preparations for the trial and "protocols, procedures and restrictions that will be in effect during the trial."
Potential impacts on the business community will also be aired.
Robert William Pickton's trial on 27 first-degree murder charges is set to begin Jan. 30 with a voir dire -- essentially a trial within a trial, conducted under a publication ban -- to determine admissibility of evidence. That process may take months.
It's expected that local, national and international media outlets will eventually descend on the B.C. Supreme Court on Carnarvon Street in New Westminster when the calling of evidence begins.
Don Bales, director of strategic management for B.C.'s Court Services, said the meeting is "an orientation to some of the preparations that have been made . . . It may have an impact on the business community."
New Westminster Chamber of Commerce executive director David Brennan has sent the meeting notice to chamber members and will attend himself.
"I just think it's great that they're going to let us know in advance what the implications are going to be," said Brennan.
Doug Syms, president of the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Society, said: "I really commend them for letting us know what's going on."
lgrindlay@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
World media expected to join courthouse crowd
Lora Grindlay
The Province
Thursday, January 19, 2006
The New Westminster business community will be briefed at a meeting tonight on how the Pickton murder trial may impact their businesses.
The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the theatre of the Justice Institute of B.C. at 715 McBride Blvd. Hosted by the B.C. government and the City of New Westminster, its agenda will include planning and preparations for the trial and "protocols, procedures and restrictions that will be in effect during the trial."
Potential impacts on the business community will also be aired.
Robert William Pickton's trial on 27 first-degree murder charges is set to begin Jan. 30 with a voir dire -- essentially a trial within a trial, conducted under a publication ban -- to determine admissibility of evidence. That process may take months.
It's expected that local, national and international media outlets will eventually descend on the B.C. Supreme Court on Carnarvon Street in New Westminster when the calling of evidence begins.
Don Bales, director of strategic management for B.C.'s Court Services, said the meeting is "an orientation to some of the preparations that have been made . . . It may have an impact on the business community."
New Westminster Chamber of Commerce executive director David Brennan has sent the meeting notice to chamber members and will attend himself.
"I just think it's great that they're going to let us know in advance what the implications are going to be," said Brennan.
Doug Syms, president of the Downtown New Westminster Business Improvement Society, said: "I really commend them for letting us know what's going on."
lgrindlay@png.canwest.com
© The Vancouver Province 2006
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