WARNING: This story contains graphic details which may be disturbing to some people. Reader discretion is advised.
A B.C. court heard from new witnesses on Thursday as the trial of a man accused of murdering a Vancouver couple entered its second day.
Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of 68-year-old Richard Jones and 64-year-old Dianna Mah-Jones at their home near West 64th Avenue and Hudson Street on Sept. 27, 2017. Kam has pleaded not guilty.
Accused’s roommate
On Thursday the court heard from Kam’s former roommate Darby Norton, who testified that he’d believed Kam had come from a nice, normal family.
Norton testified that Kam had moved in with him about three months prior to the murders, and had worked with him moving furniture.
Kam had emigrated to Canada from Hong Kong, and had studied economics in university in Alberta, Norton told the court.
He added that Kam was video gaming on the side for money while he looked for a job connected to his economics background.
Norton testified that he never saw Kam drinking or doing drugs, and said the pair had never had a falling out. The two had a minor argument over putting garbage in the wrong bin once, he said, but said Kam had apologized.
Prosecutors pressed Norton about the hatchet allegedly used in the murder, asking if he’d ever seen Kam in the garden, going camping or using a hatchet.
Norton said no.
Crown’s theory is that Kam had purchased the hatchet ahead of the murders with the intent to kill someone, but did not know the murdered couple.
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Shocking crime scene
The court also heard from Vancouver police Const. Phil Ens and Const. Peter Swan, who were among the first to arrive at the scene of the crime.
Swan testified to finding a sheathed, yellow knife on the path outside the home and a hatchet behind it.
He described entering the home with a semi-automatic rifle drawn, telling the court “he didn’t know what we were going into.”
Swan went on to describe entering the home’s bathroom. “I was overcome with the steam … blood,” he said. “My first observation was what appeared to be the outline of a human body.”
Swan told the court he had to forcibly pull the shower stall door open, and found the couple’s bodies inside.
Crown prosecutor Daniel Mulligan has previously told the court the couple’s DNA was found on a baseball cap and the hatchet Kam allegedly bought at Canadian Tire.
Crown has also told the court it will prove Kam’s DNA was discovered under Mah-Jones’ fingernails, while her DNA was found on the knife found recovered from the scene and on Kam’s glasses.
The court also heard from VPD Const. Shane Kolb Thursday, who described finding the couple’s missing Kia Soul on Cartier Street a day after the killings.
Another officer testified Wednesday that the Kia’s keys were found in a flowerbed outside a home on Cartier Street two days after the murders.
Crown told the court on Wednesday the vehicle’s location was just two blocks from Kam’s home.
Mah-Jones was a respected occupational therapist with Vancouver Coastal Health, working at the GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre and Vancouver General Hospital, and had won several awards. Jones required a walker for mobility.
The trial is set to continue Friday.
— With files from Rumina Daya
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