Robert Pickton Trial

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   So I dont know how much coverage this is getting in the states, but I know there are news teams from around the world here right now for this.  The Pickton trial is taking place in New Westminster (a part of greater Vancouver)

If you dont know what this trial is about, read below...but I warn you:

*WARNING! GRAPHIC DETAILS TO FOLLOW!  MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES/ PEOPLE!*

I'm assuming it's ok to post, as this is an international news story, and a scary one at that.

" Severed heads stuffed with lopped-off hands and feet were found plunked in buckets on the pig farm of accused serial killer Robert Pickton, jurors heard yesterday, on the opening day of the massive trial.

"He murdered them, butchered their remains and disposed of them," alleged Crown prosecutor Derrill Prevett of the Port Coquitlam pig farmer charged in 2002 with first-degree murder in the killings of six women, all who'd been struggling to survive on Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside.

Pickton has been charged with the killings of 26 women. This trial, however, deals only with Georgina Papin, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe and Marnie Frey.

Pickton has pleaded not guilty on all counts.

Prevett yesterday detailed the extensive search of Pickton's Port Coquitlam farm.

Only partial remains of each victim have ever been found, he said.

The heads of Abotsway and Joesbury, along with their hands and feet, were found in buckets in the farm's workshop. They were stored in a freezer.

The heads had been cut in half vertically, probably with a power saw.

Each had been shot in the back of the head with a .22 calibre gun, Prevett said.

Wilson's head, feet and hands were found in a garbage can outside the farm's slaughterhouse. Her skull had also been "expertly bisected," Prevett said, adding she had also been shot in the back of the head with a .22.

For the three remaining victims, Prevett said evidence will show only fragments of bones were found.

The right half off Wolfe's jaw was found among debris in a trough. She was identified by DNA extracted from the jaw's eye-teeth.

Wolfe's DNA was also found on a key to a pair of handcuffs stuffed in a duffel bag containing guns, leg irons and jewelry.

All that remained of Papin, Prevett said, were the bones of her left hand. Frey's lower jawbone containing three teeth was found buried in the ground.

In a laundry room in Pickton's trailer, jurors heard that police officers found a revolver in a zippered gun case. Prevett said the barrel of the gun was wrapped in plastic, bound with an elastic and had a dildo fitted over it. The revolver had one spent casing and was loaded with five rounds, he said.

Prevett's opening statement - which is not considered evidence, but an outline of what the Crown intends to prove - also alluded to grisly details of the police investigation that led to Pickton being charged with first-degree murder in 2002.

Prevett said that when Pickton was arrested in relation to Abotsway's death, he was taken to the Surrey RCMP station for questioning. While he sat in a cell, a cop posing as another prisoner joined him.

Their 11 hours together was captured entirely on hidden video, and Prevett said that when the jury sees it, they'll watch Pickton hold up his hands to the undercover cop, one palm open and one fist closed, indicating the number 50 and then laugh.

Forensic analysis later showed the DNA of Pickton and of Wilson were on the revolver.

But Pickton's defence lawyer, Peter Ritchie, warned the jury to listen to both sides of the story.

"Mr. Pickton did not kill or participate in the killing of the six women," Ritchie said, asking the jurors for patience.

"This will not be a simple case involving simple explanations or obvious conclusions," Ritchie said. "

Pickton:

Edited by choopie911 - 23 January 2007 at 11:25am