The Kamloops lawyer accused of first-degree murder in the killing of a client three years ago has decided at the last minute not to testify in his own defence.
Rogelio (Butch) Bagabayo was scheduled to take the stand first thing Tuesday morning when his trial by judge alone resumed, and was expected to give testimony through to the end of the week.
Instead, Bagabuyo’s lawyer Mark Swartz announced at the start of proceedings a “late development,” saying that the defence would not be calling any evidence.
Bagabuyo is accused of stabbing Thompson Rivers University computer science professor Mohd Abdullah to death more than three years ago.
The 55-year-old lawyer is not in custody. At Tuesday’s shortened hearing in Vancouver, he sat at a table behind Swartz, wearing a dark suit and glasses, with a stack of papers in front of him.
Abdullah was last seen alive on March 11, 2022, when he was captured on video walking to Bagabuyo’s office in downtown Kamloops.
His remains were found days later in a plastic bin in the back of a rental van. An autopsy confirmed several stab wounds to Abdullah’s upper left chest and back.
Earlier in the trial, Crown prosecutor Ann Katrine Saettler told Justice Kathleen Ker that Abdullah had given Bagabuyo more than $700,000 in 2016 when Abdullah’s marriage was ending.
According to the Crown’s theory of events, the computer science professor had expected to get the money back after his divorce was finalized, but in March 2022 he was still waiting for Bagabuyo to return it. The money is still missing, according to Crown.
Bagabuyo was initially charged with interfering with human remains three days after Abdullah’s body was found on March 17, 2022.
He was charged with murder over a year later, and has been free on bail since July 2023.
Abdullah, who was 60 years old when he was killed, worked at Thompson Rivers University for 21 years and played an important role in the Faculty of Science and Open Learning, according to a statement from the university in 2022.
Closing submissions in the trial are scheduled to begin on Oct. 6 in Vancouver.
