B.C. man pleads not guilty in serial killings

NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. – Robert Pickton pleaded not guilty Monday to 27 counts of first-degree murder in the disappearances of women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

The pleas by the 56-year-old man in British Columbia Supreme Court came at the formal start of his trial, which is to be followed by several months of hearings on the admissibility of evidence.

Pickton, a pig farmer in suburban Port Coquitlam, is charged with killing 27 women, mostly drug-addicted prostitutes from a slum area east of downtown Vancouver. More than 60 women have vanished from the Downtown Eastside since the early 1980s.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of family members of women who disappeared from the area held a quilt carrying the names of their loved ones.

Edna Brass of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre said the group wanted to raise awareness about what happened to the missing women.

“I don’t know if we will ever have answers to all the questions,” Brass said. “We are here to protest what has happened. It should never have happened.”

Pickton was arrested and charged four years ago. He appeared in court daily during his preliminary hearing in 2003 but only responded with short answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.

During brief court appearances in 2004 and 2005, he remained in custody and appeared by videolink. Again, he gave only brief affirmative answers when asked if he could hear the proceedings.

Pickton has not yet elected whether to be tried by jury or judge alone.

After the pleas were entered, the defense and prosecution began legal arguments over the admissibility of evidence. Those arguments are heard under a publication ban that is normally applied in Canada at this stage of the legal process.