Vancouver braces for Pickton trial
Media onslaught expected as accused serial killer's case opens
Brian Hutchinson
National Post
Saturday, January 28, 2006
VANCOUVER - The world will be watching and for once, this city is not looking forward to being in the spotlight.
Four years after his arrest, and more than a decade after dozens of women began disappearing from Vancouver's streets, accused serial murderer Robert William Pickton finally goes to trial on Monday.
Mr. Pickton is charged with 27 counts of first-degree murder. He is alleged to have lured women from Vancouver's drug-riddled Downtown Eastside to his pig farm in Port Coquitlam, a suburb, from 1995 to 2001. They were never seen again but painstaking efforts were made to collect pieces of their remains, including miniscule samples of DNA, from the Pickton farm.
Police and forensic scientists spent years putting together a case against the 55-year-old bachelor, who was once known to neighbours and customers as "Uncle Willy." For years, Mr. Pickton sold pig meat from his farm direct to friends and local butchers; he and his brother, David Francis Pickton, frequently hosted pig roasts on another property nearby, inside a shed called the Piggy Palace.
After William Pickton was apprehended and accused of murder in February, 2002, fears were raised that pigs sold from his farm may have consumed human remains.
Prosecutors and members of Mr. Pickton's defence team spent months in pre-trial hearings, held inside a courtroom in New Westminster, another Vancouver suburb. That process was completed last autumn. Next week, should Mr. Pickton enter a plea of not guilty, lawyers will begin to argue before a judge the admissibility of evidence they hope to enter during the trial. That process is expected to last at least two months. Opening statements will be made, and the Crown will begin its case against Mr. Pickton.
The public can then expect to be fed a steady diet of gruesome, macabre details. Interest in the case is intense and far-reaching. Dozens of reporters from the Vancouver area, Washington State, and even abroad had to formally apply for court access months ahead of Monday's trial date.
Relatives and friends of Mr. Pickton's 27 alleged murder victims will also be in attendance; they want to know more about how various police investigations were conducted. Members of the Vancouver police and the RCMP were criticized for their work leading up to Mr. Pickton's arrest.
At least 50 women, many of them sex workers, vanished from the Downtown Eastside before the first murder charges against Mr. Pickton were laid. However, in 1997, he was charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute at his squalid pig farm. It was alleged he stabbed the woman in the stomach. The charge was eventually stayed and the disappearances continued.
All will soon come out, a prospect some courtroom aficionados have anticipated with relish. Others, such as unscrupulous U.S. filmmakers, jumped the gun and have begun to exploit the Pickton case.
American-based horror film schlockmeister Ulli Lommel has already shot a movie based on the "shocking true story." A synopsis for the low-budget film, called Killer Pickton, describes in gruesome detail how the central character--"a pig farm maniac" named Billy -- disposed of his victims.
Attempts to locate Mr. Lommel yesterday were unsuccessful. Reached via telephone at her home in Boston, one of the film's actors refused to comment on the project and hung up when asked how she was cast. The movie was completed in October and is expected to be released on video and DVD, not in public theatres.
The trial, meanwhile, will last at least one year and it certain to be the subject of both scrutiny and distress.
Criminal cases that involve allegations of serial murder are always sensational, even in Canada, where rules of disclosure are strict and where pre-trial publicity is contained.
Sometimes they bring shame. People here still shudder at the notoriety local serial child killer Clifford Olsen brought to the community. In 1982, after negotiating with the Crown in a series of cash payments to his wife in exchange for self-incriminating information, the Vancouver native pleaded guilty to 11 counts of murder.
Local shopkeepers, municipal workers and court officials are bracing for the media onslaught. This month, the City of New Westminster held information sessions for residents and business owners, sharing with them plans to control an expected surge in vehicle traffic and parking demands.
The Pickton trial will do nothing to enhance their community's image, even though the alleged murders took place elsewhere. Vancouver's image may also be tarnished. The city prides itself on its natural splendour, and tourism is a major industry here. But there are fears that violent crime, much of it drug related, is already scaring visitors away.
Two weeks ago, the Chinese consulate in Vancouver posted a travel alert on its Web site, warning tourists from China to watch their valuables and passports when roaming the city. Soon people will be hearing and reading about pigs, missing prostitutes and Mr. Pickton, and for a long time to come. His trial is welcome; justice must be done. But the daily reports will be dreadful.
© National Post 2006
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