Accused in Const. John Davidson's shooting appears in court

Accused cop killer heads to court Oscar Arfmann, accused of killing Const. John Davidson, made his first appearance in court.

An Alberta man charged in the shooting death of an Abbotsford, B.C. police officer earlier this month made his first court appearance nine days after Const. John Davidson was laid to rest.

Oscar Ferdinand Arfmann made a brief appearance with his lawyer Tuesday morning, arriving at the courthouse in a prisoner van from the Surrey Pretrial Services Centre. He sat in the prisoner's box, and did not speak.

Afrmann was told to reappear at Abbotsford Provincial Court on Jan. 12 to fix dates for the next stages of the proceedings. While the period between appearances is longer than usual, the judge said it was understandable given the seriousness of the case.

The 65-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with a shooting in Abbotsford on Nov. 6.

Davidson was fatally wounded while attending a call that a man had opened fire after a witness tried to block in a vehicle he believed to have been stolen from the nearby Fraser Valley Auto Mall. The officer described as a hard worker, a family man and a loyal friend was laid to rest Nov. 19 following a funeral that drew thousands to Abbotsford.

Rick Young, a man outside court Tuesday, said Davidson had helped turn his life around.

"He was there for me, he was there for my family, he was there. He was there for my son's memorial, and that's what I seen in John. His love, his care," Young said.

Arfmann was injured in a takedown not far from the shooting scene and has been in police custody since. In court Tuesday, slouched over with his grey hair matted, Arfmann did not show any obvious signs of injury, though he was wearing restraints and had a limited range of motion.

He has not entered a plea and remains in police custody.

The accused does not have to appear in court in person – he has the option of appearing by video link – but he has specifically asked to attend each time.

His request is unusual, but a Crown counsel spokesperson said it's within his rights to do so.

"Each case turns on its own particular facts," Dan McLaughlin said.

The charge against Arfmann, first-degree murder, is automatically applied under the Criminal Code when someone is accused of killing a police officer.

Few details are known about where the gun came from or how it was obtained, but the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said Arfmann was not legally permitted to possess a firearm.

A witness photo that was circulated on social media showed Arfmann wearing sunglasses and carrying what experts described as an SKS semi-automatic rifle.

The senior had a licence at one point, but it expired two years ago, Cpl. Frank Jang said at the time. IHIT also didn't believe that he had a valid driver's licence though he allegedly tried to flee the shooting scene in a stolen black Mustang.

Court records showed a man with the same name and birthday pleaded guilty to impaired driving last year and was given a 12-month suspension.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim and Andrew Weichel