Prosecutor: Canadian Pig Farmer Admits to Killing 49 Women, Says He Wanted to Murder One More
Tuesday , January 23, 2007
A Canadian pig farmer on trial for killing dozens of women and feeding them to his animals told police that he was planning one final murder to bring his tally to an “even 50â€, the prosecutor said.
At the start of what promises to be a gory year-long trial, Derrill Prevett, representing the state, told the court in Vancouver that Robert “Willie†Pickton had confessed to killing 49 women.
Pickton told police, including an undercover officer planted in his cell, that he was plotting his last kill to reach a half-century before he “shut it downâ€, the prosecutor said.
“I was going to do one more and make it an even 50,†Prevett quoted the pig farmer as telling investigators. “I made my own grave by being sloppy.â€
Pickton, 56, has pleaded not guilty to 26 counts of first-degree murder in Canada’s worst serial-killing case. Prosecutors said that he lured the women — mostly prostitutes and drug addicts from Vancouver’s red-light district — to his family’s 17-acre pig farm, nicknamed the Piggy Palace, where he threw wild parties.
Among the women Pickton is accused of killing is Sarah de Vries, a prostitute who disappeared in 1998 when she was 28. A 1995 entry in her diary revealed that she feared for her life after women began disappearing. “Am I next,†she wrote. “Is he watching me now? Is he stalking me like a predator and his prey?â€
“The Crown (the state) will say that over the course of several years he had these women to his farm,†Prevett told the court. “There he murdered them, butchered their remains and disposed of them. He had the expertise and the equipment for the task. He had the means of transportation available and the means for the disposal of the remains.â€
Pickton was arrested in February 2002 when police visited his farm to search for an unlicensed shotgun and found an asthma inhaler and identification cards belonging to some of the missing women.
Investigators believed that Pickton disposed of most of the bodies in a wood-chipper and fed them to his pigs. Police were said to have discovered the severed hands and feet, as well as the heads of two women, in buckets in the freezer. “The heads of the individuals had been cut in two, vertically,†Prevett said. “With the skulls were left and right hands and the front parts of the left and right feet.â€
Both skulls had bullet wounds caused by .22-calibre bullets, he said. Investigators found a Smith & Wesson rifle covered in plastic. Attached was a sex toy that had traces of DNA from Pickton and one of the victims.
Pickton is being tried on the first six counts, after Justice James Williams ruled that the other 20 charges should be heard in a later trial to avoid overburdening the jury.
Peter Ritchie, for the defence, told the jury that Pickton did not kill or participate in the murders of any of the six women.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
yup. Now that the trial has finally started I'm sure this will be in the news for months. This first trial is only for 6 of the 49 women. Then there's one for 20. I'm not really sure why they break it up like that, though I'm sure there's a logical explanation? Pretty sick dude.
_________________ I am a Child, I'll last a while. You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
sherpahigh wrote:
yup. Now that the trial has finally started I'm sure this will be in the news for months. This first trial is only for 6 of the 49 women. Then there's one for 20. I'm not really sure why they break it up like that, though I'm sure there's a logical explanation? Pretty sick dude.
with all the media attention on top of the actual trial, the judge felt it'd be too much on the shoulders of the jurors to do all the women.
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Fri Jun 03, 2005 6:12 am Posts: 4369 Location: That Night In Toronto
MF wrote:
This has been going on for years already and this trial (and any subsequent ones for the remaining murders) promises to last even longer.
It's all pretty fucked up.
And what publication ban are you talking about? It's all over the news here on the east coast. In fact it's the top story on cbc.ca today.
Oh yeah, it's the top story everywhere. But the actual details of evidence and whatnot are not allowed to be heard by the Canadian public. we will continue to know what we know until such a time that the government decides we're ready to hear what Willy P actually did.
Unless, of course, we get American news on satellite.
_________________ Your imagination's havin' puppies it could be a video for the new recruits
No publication ban, regular old Canadian news will work out fine if you're keen on all the details.
Quote:
No publication ban on first-degree murder trial of Robert Pickton: Judge
Greg Joyce Canadian Press
Friday, December 15, 2006
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. (CP) - There will be no sweeping publication ban on the murder trial of Robert Pickton, even though the accused serial killer could face a second trial at a later date, a judge ruled Friday.
A pile of rubble including a pickup truck sits in the middle of the Pickton farm in Coquitlam, B.C. Justice James Williams has ruled that Pickton's trial in New Westminster on six charges of first-degree murder, slated to begin in January, will be held in open court. (CP images/Chuck Stoody)
Justice James Williams made the ruling after lawyers for news organizations argued that a ban would effectively mean one of the biggest murder cases in Canadian history would be tried in "secret."
Pickton is charged with 26 counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of women, many of whom were sex-trade workers from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. He faces six of those counts at a trial starting in January.
Nearly all of the long and complicated legal proceedings since Pickton was arrested almost five years ago have taken place under a publication ban.
The issue of a ban on the entire first trial arose when the court severed the six first-degree murder counts, leaving 20 to potentially be tried later.
With the first trial taking place public, it becomes a question of what effect that might have on the second trial.
Dan Burnett, representing The Canadian Press and other media organizations, said a publication ban "would be one of the most controversial bans in the history of Canadian judicial jurisprudence."
"The prospect of having the biggest murder trial in Canadian history in secret is breathtaking," Burnett said in court.
Defence lawyer Peter Ritchie told the court he would not seek a publication ban of evidence heard in the trial. He would also not waive his client's Charter rights later on.
Crown prosecutor John Ahern said the obvious Charter rights he had to "infer" were of concern are section 7 of the Charter - the right to a fair trial - and another section that says an accused has a right to be tried within a reasonable time.
Ahern said he would not apply for a publication ban, suggesting such an application should come from the defence.
When the judge asked Ritchie about his client's position on whether his rights to a fair second trial would be jeopardized by not having the first under a ban, Ritchie referred to some exhibits that might be part of both trials.
Ritchie said the defence needs "a sense of what can and can't be published in the first trial."
In the end, the judge said that since neither side had sought a publication ban, he would not impose one.
But he said the defence's concern about certain exhibits might have to be addressed - with a possible publication ban - through another application before the first trial begins.
The judge also said that other issues might arise during the first trial that the defence could seek a publication ban.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:46 pm Posts: 286 Gender: Female
I think the number is a bit exaggerated.. I could be wrong though... so far he is only being tried for the first 6 because they are absolute.. but he may not even make it through the duration on the trial due to kidney & liver diseases...
What I found disturbing about this case (aside from the method/result of the murders-victims).. is that some of his friends are attempting to paint his picture as an easy-going/more or less normal individual.. reading some of the excerpts almost made me physically ill.
_________________ ... The willow knows what the storm does not; that the power to endure harm outlives the power to inflict it.
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:54 pm Posts: 12287 Location: Manguetown Gender: Male
The pig idea is quite smart, i must admit
_________________ There's just no mercy in your eyes There ain't no time to set things right And I'm afraid I've lost the fight I'm just a painful reminder Another day you leave behind
Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 1:03 am Posts: 24177 Location: Australia
the news here is reporting that there is a publication ban of some sort in canada to ensure an impartial jury.
_________________ Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear, Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer. The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
Athletic Supporter wrote:
how's this:
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
Athletic Supporter wrote:
how's this:
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
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