For the past week, Jessica and Calla Payne have been in an agonizing position, seated near their father’s accused killers in a courtroom that’s smaller than they expected.
Zachary Armitage and James Lee Busch are charged with first-degree murder in the death of 60-year-old Martin Payne on July 8, 2019. Payne was killed one day after the pair escaped the William Head Institution, a federal prison on Vancouver Island.
“Sitting in the courtroom is very difficult but we’re happy that we have each other, that we’ve got the support we have, and we’re looking forward to seeing justice come from this,” Calla said outside B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver on Friday.
Payne was found dead on the bathroom floor of his Metchosin, B.C., home with a pool of blood by his head and duct tape around his leg and right arm, the court has heard.
Images of his body were circulated before jurors Thursday, and the sisters could be seen holding hands as the jury absorbed the graphic evidence in the case.
“There are so many things that are the worst part, you can’t really choose one,” Calla said. “Seeing those images, I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.”
According to the Crown, Armitage and Busch escaped the William Head Institution on July 7, 2019, by walking along the shoreline at low tide. The Crown alleges they killed Payne the next day after he returned home from his job as a mail carrier in Victoria.
Both suspects have pleaded not guilty.
The 12-member jury heard Friday that a finger print was recovered from a tape dispenser at the crime scene. The print matched Armitage’s in a federal database and the tape dispenser found was used to bind Payne’s arm and leg, the Crown argued.
Armitage’s prints were also recovered from a notepad found next to Payne’s computer in his master bedroom, jurors heard. On the notepad was written, “What is your pin for your cards.”
While defense lawyers for Busch and Armitage have yet to present arguments, the Crown has spent the week advancing its theory of the path the pair took after their prison breakout.
“We’ve been very grateful for the meticulous nature of the questions they’ve been presenting and how they’ve been presented,” said Calla, adding that she and Jessica will attend the entire five-week trial.
“It’s been a rollercoaster. Obviously the entire situation is devastating to all of us, not just the family but the community.”
Payne was beloved by friends, family, co-workers and community, Jessica told Global News. She described her father as a fun-loving “goofball” who was “caring and compassionate.”
“We could call him when we were teenagers at any hour of the night … no questions asked,” she recalled.
“He was the best dad we could have hoped for and everyone that met him had a positive impression of him.”
Jessica said the trial has been difficult, but has helped answer questions that have been burning in their minds for more than three years. Attending is a way to honour her father’s memory, she added.
To date, jurors have heard that Payne left his home for work early on the morning of July 8, 2019.
A digital forensics expert has testified that after that, someone logged into the computer in Payne’s house and, over a period of six hours, searched for Victoria news, free porn, the William Head Institution, word of two men escaping a Victoria-area prison, “private water taxi,” and “Zachary Armitage.”
The court has also heard that about 10 minutes after the search for “private water taxi” was made, someone called the Gulf Island Water Taxi inquiring about ferry service to the Lower Mainland, a service the company does not provide.
Less than three hours after that, Armitage called former-inmate James George seeking money and a ride, George testified on Thursday. The pair had become friends behind bars, but George said he told Armitage on the phone that he “didn’t want anything to do” with him and later changed his phone number.
A RCMP forensics officer has testified about finding Payne’s body, the blood, duct tape, a hatchet and a Bowie knife at the crime scene, as well as finding Payne’s car in Oak Bay, about 25 kilometres from his home, on July 12, 2019.
Crown prosecutor Sofia Bakken has said DNA matching Armitage’s was identified on the butt of a cigarette found in Payne’s truck, and that the court would hear testimony from a pathologist that “chop wounds” to the victim’s skull were consistent with those inflicted by a hatchet.
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.
Crossin has also instructed the jury that they must be sure of each man’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt if they are to deliver guilty verdicts.
Under cross-examination Wednesday, the Crown’s digital forensics expert revealed that while Armitage’s name appeared in Payne’s computer search history, the name “James Lee Busch” did not.
A Crown witness who worked at the prison and helped search for the fugitives after their escape has testified that doesn’t know whether they had weapons with them when they left.
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.
Jessica and Calla, meanwhile, are suing the Correctional Service of Canada, claiming the negligence of prison officials contribute to Armitage’s and Busch’s escape.
The Crown witness and former William Head Institution staffer testified that inmates have to earn some measure of trust to end up at the minimum-security prison and live in clusters of duplexes they are not confined during the day. They participate in various work or rehabilitation activities, he added.
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, the witness said.
— with files from The Canadian Press’ Brenna Owen
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