VANCOUVER – The terrible
saga of Vancouver’s missing women began back in 1971, when women started
disappearing from the city’s downtown eastside. Rumours floated for years
before Vancouver police started reviewing the files of dozens of missing women
in September 1998.
In July of the following
year, the VPD and the BC Attorney General published a poster featuring dozens
of the missing women and offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to
an arrest and conviction.
In February of 2002, RCMP
and members of the missing women task force raided a suburban Vancouver pig
farm on a firearms warrant and scoured the property for clues. Robert “Willy”
Pickton was charged with killing Sereena Abotsway and Mona Wilson. Five more
murder charges were added in the spring. In June, police began digging for DNA
remains on the property with the help of archaeologists. In the fall, eight
more charges were filed.
Court proceedings got
underway with a preliminary hearing in January 2003. In July, Pickton stood
trial on 15 murder counts in what was described as the biggest serial murder
case in Canadian history.
In the meantime,
excavations at Pickton’s farm continued and in the spring of 2005, Pickton was
charged with 12 more murders. Pre-trial hearings began in June under a
publication ban and a heavy worldwide media presence.
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In August of the following
year, the Crown decided to try only six counts first, postponing the remaining
20 counts for a later trial. Gruesome details followed about Pickton allegedly
killing the women and butchering their remains.
The prosecution opened its
case against Pickton in January 2007. The first six charges are for the murders
of Marnie Frey, Georgina Papin, Brenda Wolfe, Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson and
Sereena Abotsway.
The crown called 98
witnesses over the next seven months, finally resting their case in October.
The defence attempted to paint Pickton as borderline mentally-challenged,
claiming he didn’t understand what he was saying when he allegedly confessed to
murdering women.
The defence rested its
case in October and final arguments began in November.
On December 9, 2007,
Robert Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder and handed a
life sentence. He was also charged with 20 more murders, but the prosecution
later decides it’s not worth the cost to pursue another trial.
In January 2008, the Crown
sought to launch a new trial for Pickton, arguing he should be tried for all 26
murder charges. One month later, British Columbia Attorney General Wally Oppal said there would be no
second Pickton trial covering the 20 additional murder charges that were not
covered in his original trial. Oppal said there
would be no purpose for a second trial because the pig farmer was unlikely to
ever leave prison where he continues to serve a life sentence with no parole for
25 years.
On June 25th, 2009,
Pickton’s conviction was upheld by the BC Appeals court. One day later,
Pickton’s lawyers said they would appeal his six second-degree murder
convictions to ask the Supreme Court of Canada whether Pickton received a fair
trial. In all, officials
estimate the police investigation and trial cost $116 million.
On
July 30, 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously rejected the appeal for a
new trial. “Any additional convictions could not result in any
increase to the sentence that Mr. Pickton has already received,” B.C. Crown
spokesman Neil MacKenzie told reporters following the court’s decision. Vancouver
Police Deputy Chief Const. Doug LePard issued a heartfelt apology to Pickton’s
victims’ families. “I wish that all the mistakes that were made we could undo and I wish more lives
would have been saved,” LePard said.
On October 11, 2011, a public inquiry into Pickton’s serial case
got underway. The Missing Women Commission
of Inquiry will look into why Vancouver Police and RCMP failed to catch Pickton
sooner.
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