A Supreme Court ruling states that civil trials due to begin next year will not be negatively impacted by the RCMP’s applications to dispose of the items to delay RCMP seized at serial killer’s PoCo farm.
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The families of victims of Robert Pickton have lost a bid to delay RCMP court applications to dispose of thousands of items seized at the late serial killer’s Port Coquitlam farm.
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B.C. Supreme Court Justice Frits Verhoeven said in a ruling released Thursday that civil trials due to begin next year will not be hurt by the RCMP’s applications to dispose of the items.
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“I am not persuaded that the civil claims will suffer any prejudice by allowing the RCMP applications to proceed. The evidence before me establishes, to my satisfaction, that the police documentation with respect to the items is thorough and comprehensive, and would be more than sufficient to answer any real need that I can foresee in civil proceedings. That is sufficient, in itself, to dismiss the application for an adjournment,” Verhoeven said.
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Lawyer Jason Gratl, who represents family members in their civil lawsuit against Pickton’s estate and his brother David, said the ruling is in no way a blow to his clients.
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“My clients and I are not in any way disappointed with the reasons for judgment. They confirm that the records of the original evidence seized by the RCMP are sufficient for use in the civil proceedings against David Pickton,” Gratl said. “We had applied to ensure that none of the defendants in the civil claim could ever complain that we hadn’t attempted to secure the most original or best evidence. From our point of view, you can check that due diligence box.”
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Robert Pickton was murdered in Quebec’s Port-Cartier maximum-security federal penitentiary in May 2024 after being convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder of women who went missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. He was serving a life sentence.
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![Flowers on the fence of the Pickton property in Port Coquitlam on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
(Photo by Jason Payne/ PNG)
(For story by Kim Bolan) [PNG Merlin Archive]](https://i0.wp.com/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/vancouversun/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/png-0605n-pickton-008.jpg?resize=96%2C96&ssl=1)
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His fellow prisoner, Martin Charest, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder last year, claiming he killed Pickton for the victims.
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Verhoeven noted that the RCMP has 25 applications before the court “for disposal or dispersal of some of the approximately 15,000 items” seized by police from a property owned by the Pickton brothers on Dominion Avenue in Port Coquitlam.
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“Only a small portion of the Dominion items were entered as exhibits at the trial. The exhibits entered as evidence of the trial have been returned to the custody of the RCMP,” Verhoeven said. “With the conclusion of the prosecution and related inquiries the RCMP has commenced the process of seeking disposal of the items seized.”
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He also said the RCMP process is completely separate from the civil cases. Section 490 of the Criminal Code lays out the steps police must take to deal with items seized in investigations.
