WARNING: This story contains graphic details that may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised.
The trial of a Vancouver man accused of killing an elderly couple in their Marpole home two years ago saw the Crown use surveillance videos to piece together the timeline of the grisly crime.
Rocky Rambo Wei Nam Kam has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of 68-year-old Richard Jones and 64-year-old Dianna Mah-Jones, whose bodies were found in their home near West 64 Avenue and Hudson Street on Sept. 27, 2017.
On Wednesday, the Crown presented a mountain of surveillance videos collected from businesses, transit buses and homes, which prosecutors say show Kam in the area several times before and after the killings.
The Crown also showed videos that depict the final hours of Jones and Mah-Jones before they arrived home on Sept. 26, the night the Crown says they were killed.
Videos showing a man the Crown believes is Kam started at around 5:53 p.m. when a man was caught on store and bus cameras walking near Granville Street.
Jones, who used a walker, was seen on video in a liquor store on 70 Avenue around 6:15 p.m. He’s last seen walking down Hudson Street around 15 minutes later.
Mah-Jones was seen on video leaving a dance class around 7:08 p.m., then going shopping at the Costco in Richmond.
At 7:31 p.m., the man believed to be Kam is seen walking down Birch Street near Jones and Mah-Jones’ home.
According to the Crown’s timeline, Mah-Jones then arrived home just past 8 p.m.
The couple’s bodies were found stacked in the shower of their West Side home, in a scene that police have described as “catastrophic.”
The Crown’s theory is that Kam was already in the victims’ home when Mah-Jones walked in.
The next video was taken at 8:38 p.m., showing a white vehicle pulling up on Cartier Street and a person exiting.
The court had previously heard Mah-Jones’ stolen white Kia was found on that same street, which is a short distance from her home, on Sept. 27.
A previous witness testified last month she saw a similar vehicle drive off after being parked outside the couple’s home on the evening of Sept. 26.
At 8:41 p.m. that night, home surveillance video showed a person with a backpack walking on West 62 Avenue. The Crown told the court that man was Kam.
The videos shown to the court were just some of the files collected by Vancouver police from more than 100 locations, according to testimony heard Wednesday.
Det. Hans Dykman told the court he was advised in October 2017 that a “person of interest” had been identified as a result of a purchase at Canadian Tire, which was captured on surveillance video.
That video, already presented to the court and later released to the public, shows a man purchasing a baseball cap, gloves and a hatchet at Canadian Tire.
Police have identified the man as Kam in earlier testimony.
Dykman told the court he connected the Canadian Tire video to several other videos obtained by police based on similarities including race, hair colour, receding temples, age, build and glasses.
The Crown’s theory is that Kam purchased a hatchet and gloves in the days leading up to the double-murder with the intent of killing someone, but that he had no relationship with the victims.
The court has already heard from several witnesses who described seeing a knife and a hatchet outside the home on the day the couple was found dead.
Prosecutors have told the court the couple’s DNA was found on the hatchet. A forensic analyst testified Monday Kam’s DNA was found on the knife, saying there’s a “one in 630-quintillion chance” it’s someone else’s.
The trial is expected to continue Thursday, which could also see the video evidence released to the public after media, including Global News, filed applications.
The Crown is expected to wrap its case by the week of Oct. 15, at which point the defence will lay out its case — and its theory of what happened.
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