|
Suspect faces 31 murder raps
21/12/2004 10:41 - (SA)
Vancouver, Canada - A pig farmer accused of being Canada's most prolific serial killer could be tried for the murder of as many as 31 women, most of them prostitutes, prosecutors said on Monday.
Robert William Pickton was arrested in February 2002 after police made a massive search of his pig farm near Vancouver, in which they found DNA and personal belongings from some of 69 missing prostitutes.
Pickton was formally committed in 2003 to trial on 15 charges of first degree murder.
But prosecutors said last year they would also lay charges on another seven murders and in a hearing here Monday indicated they were also investigating a further nine deaths in the case.
If new charges follow, that would bring the total number of killings Pickton is accused of to 31.
"I can't close the door on anything," said prosecution spoksman Geoffrey Gaul, regarding the eventual indictment detailing all charges against Pickton which will be lodged with the British Columbia provincial Supreme Court.
"We're still assessing how many counts will be on that indictment," said Gaul.
Lawyers had appeared Monday for a routine hearing in the British Columbia Supreme Court, which Pickton watched from jail via video feed.
The court was to have set a date for the murder trial, but associate chief justice Patrick Dohm granted a request by Pickton's lawyer for a delay because of the massive amount of evidence.
Pickton will return to court on March 31 when an attempt will again be made to set a trial date.
Meanwhile, Dohm was told that prosecutors have more information about nine additional missing women.
Police mounted a huge excavation effort at Pickton's farm in Port Coquitlam, a suburb 35km east of Vancouver, and have spent months sifting through DNA evidence, personal effects and bone fragments.
Most of the missing women were on a police list of more than 60 drug-addicted prostitutes who vanished from East Vancouver over a 25-year period.
In February, 2002, a police task force looking into their disappearance moved onto Pickton's farm.
Earlier this year, health authorities warned the public that pig meat from the farm, which Pickton owned with a brother and sister and operated independently, could be contaminated with human remains.
|
News
