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Pig farmer prosecutor rejects ‘bizarre theory’

The trial which is proceeding now is about the murders of these six women. Clockwise from top left: Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Angela Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Marni Frey. Photo credit: CBC News

Jurors in the trial of a man accused of being Canada’s worst serial killer have been asked to use “common sense” in deciding how the remains of six women were found at his pig farm.

The evidence is vast and damning, if you can stomach it.

In its closing arguments at the trial of Robert Pickton, who is accused of killing 26 women, the prosecution said the evidence clearly pointed to him and rejected as “bizarre” defence claims that someone else was responsible.

When you consider all that was discovered, I would say there is really no other explanation.

Michael Petrie, prosecuting, told the trial in New Westminster, British Columbia: “Let’s have a reality check here. This case is about the police finding the remains of six dead human beings essentially in the accused’s backyard.”

“Could you accept that someone else snuck on that farm with a bunch of body parts, bones… all without him knowing it?”

It’s a huge leap of fantasy to think that someone else did it, but that’s what the defence would have you believe.

The prosecution has called 98 witnesses and 30 have appeared for the defence since Pickton went on trial in January for the first six murders.

He denies first degree murder in the deaths of 26 out of more than 60 prostitutes and drug addicts who disappeared from Vancouver’s poor Downtown Eastside area from the early 1990s until shortly before his arrest in 2002.

Police say Pickton, 58, lured the women to the ramshackle farm at Port Coquitlam where, after having sex with his victims, he killed them and chopped up their bodies in his slaughterhouse.

He then disposed of the bodies in the farm’s rendering plant or by feeding the remains to his pigs.

While the defence has acknowledged the remains were found on his farm, it argued that other suspects have been ignored and that the evidence - including skulls, hands and feet - was no proof of his guilt.

Riiight. We’ll see what the jury has to say.

A second trial for 20 more murders is expected later. The victims in the current trial are Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury and Brenda Wolfe.

Pickton a Savvy Suspect: Crown

The Crown is likely to conclude its closing arguments on Monday and the jury will begin hearing final instructions from the judge.

Deliberations are unlikely to start until the middle of next week.