Warning: This story contains graphic details that could disturb and trigger some readers. Discretion is advised.
A man charged with first-degree murder sought help from someone he befriended behind bars after escaping a federal prison in B.C. three years ago, a jury has heard.
James George testified in B.C. Supreme Court that after breaking out of Vancouver Island’s William Head Institution, Zachary Armitage asked him for money and a ride.
“I told him I didn’t want anything to do with this. I said I didn’t want to talk to him,” the Crown witness told a 12-member jury on Thursday.
Armitage and James Lee Busch are charged with first-degree murder in the killing of 60-year-old Martin Payne on July 8, 2019 — one day after the pair walked away from the prison about eight kilometres from the victim’s home in Metchosin.
George said he had read about their flight on Facebook the morning before Armitage called. Armitage got his number through a mutual friend, he added.
The call on July 8, 2019, around 11:30 a.m., lasted a few minutes and George changed his number afterward, so Armitage could never contact him again, he told the court.
Armitage and Busch have pleaded not guilty in connection with Payne’s death. Their high-profile trial, scheduled for five weeks, kicked off Monday.
Crown prosecutors have begun painting a picture of the path they claim the two murder suspects took after their escape. Their theory is that Payne was killed in his home after returning from his job as a mail carrier in Victoria the day after the prison breakout, which Armitage and Busch accomplished by walking along the shoreline at low tide.
The call to George allegedly took place less than three hours after someone called the Gulf Island Water Taxi company, inquiring about ferry service to the Lower Mainland.
Jurors heard Thursday from a woman who was responsible for the service that takes calls for the company. The recorded call, shared in court, came in around 8:51 a.m. on July 8, 2019, the witness said.
When the caller was told Gulf Island Water Taxi did not travel to the Lower Mainland, the caller asked if any other ferries did. The call-taker said she didn’t know, and the conversation ended, according to a transcript obtained by Global News.
The call about ferries took place about 10 minutes after someone searched the words “water taxi” in a Google Chrome browser that had never before been opened on the victim’s computer, according to a digital forensics expert.
That Crown witness testified Wednesday that someone logged into Payne’s computer just after 7 a.m. on the day of the murder and began searching for terms related to a prison escape.
Between 6:57 a.m. and 1 p.m. on July 8, 2019, searches for Victoria news, free pornography, the William Head Institution, two men escaping a Victoria-area prison, “private water taxi,” and “Zachary Armitage” were logged.
The computer went to sleep at 2:06 p.m. and was never used again, according to the digital forensics expert.
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Armitage and Busch were arrested on July 9, 2019, after they approached a man walking a dog who happened to be an off-duty police officer.
Payne’s body was discovered on July 12 on the bathroom floor of his home.
An RCMP forensics officer testified Thursday that she examined Payne’s truck, recovered in Oak Bay, B.C. before she was called to the victim’s house. She said Payne was found with a pool of blood by his head, images of which were shown in court.
Payne’s daughters, Jessica and Calla Payne held hands while the graphic photos — including one of his duct tape-bound leg and arm — were displayed. Jurors also saw a handwritten note with a demand for someone’s pin number to access their bank accounts that was found in Payne’s master bedroom near his computer.
Crown prosecutor Sofia Bakken has said DNA matching Armitage’s was identified on the butt of a cigarette found in Payne’s truck, and a pathologist will soon testify that “chop wounds” to the victim’s skull were consistent with those inflicted by a hatchet.
The RCMP forensics officer testified Thursday that a hatchet and Bowie knife were found in another bathroom of the house.
The Crown has told the jury it can prove Payne left his home for work early in the morning on the day he was killed.
Armitage and Busch are being tried together, but earlier this week, Justice David Crossin told the jury that their guilt or innocence should be determined individually.
Their defense lawyers have not yet presented arguments and are not expected to do so for at least two weeks.
In cross-examination on Wednesday, however, the Crown’s digital forensics expert testified that he had not searched the computer’s use in the days prior to July 7 — when Armitage and Busch escaped. Busch’s lawyer also asked whether the name, “James Lee Busch,” had been searched in the browser, and the expert said it hadn’t.
Another Crown witness, Jeffrey Cashin, has already testified that he worked at William Head Institution for close to 30 years before retiring, and had been involved in searching for Armitage and Busch after their escape.
Under cross-examination by Armitage’s defence lawyer, James Heller, Cashin agreed that inmates had to earn some measure of trust in order to end up at the institution. He said they live in clusters of duplexes to which they are not confined during the day, and they participate in various work or rehabilitation activities.
Security measures include alarms that are activated on the duplex doors every night at 10 p.m., checks and counts throughout the day to ensure all inmates are accounted for, and cameras on the institution’s property, Cashin told the court earlier this week.
Cashin testified he reviewed security footage showing Busch and Armitage walking around the institution’s fence line around the time of their escape.
Heller asked if the men had weapons with them, and Cashin said he didn’t know.
Armitage’s lawyer suggested Busch may have had a hatchet, possibly taken from an Indigenous-focused program at the institution, and Cashin repeated that he couldn’t say, and he wasn’t aware of such a weapon being taken from William Head.
Crossin has explained to the jury that they must be sure of each man’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt if they are to deliver guilty verdicts.
— with files from The Canadian Press’ Brenna Owen
Editor’s Note: This is a corrected story. An earlier version incorrectly stated that Payne was found with duct tape on his legs. In fact, it was found on one leg.
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