Former B.C. lawyer guilty of first-degree murder in killing of client

A person leaves the Kamloops Law Courts building, in Kamloops, B.C. on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2009. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Daniel Hayduk

After former Kamloops, B.C., lawyer Rogelio (Butch) Bagabuyo stole almost $800,000 from a client, stabbed him to death and then smuggled the body out of his office in a plastic tote, he tried to explain the killing as unplanned.

But B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker said in a ruling handed down Tuesday in Kamloops that she had no doubt the killing on March 11, 2022, was planned and deliberate, as she convicted Bagabuyo of first-degree murder.

She said “it defies logic, common sense and human experience” that the stabbing of Mohd Abdullah, a lecturer at Thompson Rivers University, could have been spontaneous. Ker described preparatory steps that included Bagabuyo emailing Abdullah on March 1 to set up the meeting, writing a to-do list on a cue-card, and purchasing a “decoy tote” in the days leading up to the killing.

Ker outlined a series of actions Bagabuyo had to carry out in the two hours between Abdullah walking into the office and the then-lawyer walking out with tote.

“It further defies logic, common sense and human experience that Mr. Bagabuyo could have accomplished all of the steps enumerated above with precision and skill in such a short amount of time.”

Bagabuyo was given the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment without parole for 25 years.

When asked if Bagabuyo wanted to address the court, he shook his head.

The trial heard that Abdullah hired Bagabuyo in 2016 and they conspired to hide money from Abdullah’s wife during their separation, but Bagabuyo spent more than $780,000 of that cash.

The Crown prosecutor said in closing arguments that Bagabuyo methodically planned the murder for more than a week after realizing he would no longer be able to fool Abdullah, who was increasingly impatient about getting his money back.

His defence lawyer said the death was “unexpected” and while his client admitted killing Abdullah at his office, it was manslaughter.

The judge called Bagabuyo a “fraudster” who told his former client “what he wanted to hear” to make it seem like he would eventually return the funds, but that was a “complete fabrication” because he had spent all the money.

Ker said Tuesday that the only rational conclusion on the whole of the evidence was “Bagabuyo planned to kill Mr. Abdullah and undertook a number of preparatory steps in the days preceding the meeting of March 11.”

“These steps were both carefully thought out and considered over a number of days,” Ker said.

“The circumstantial evidence in my findings of fact related to the timeline of events between the email of March 1 and the meeting on March 11 make it fundamentally clear that this was a planned and deliberate murder.”

The court heard that Bagabuyo slashed Abdullah’s face and stabbed him twice in the neck, seven times in his chest and once in the abdomen.

“The injuries had to have been inflicted in quick succession, such that Mr. Abdullah was likely immediately overcome,” Ker said.

She said the evidence showed that, after the killing, Bagabuyo wrapped Abdullah’s body in plastic sheeting, put a homemade garrote around his neck, placed him in the bin and secured it with ratchet straps.

Ker noted that Bagabuyo left his office with three garbage bags and the tote that contained Abdullah’s body just two hours after the victim was seen walking in the direction of his office.

That short timeline, she said, coupled with the absence of defensive wounds on Bagabuyo when he was arrested, supported “the conclusion that a spontaneous, unplanned confrontation did not occur in this case.”

Bagabuyo was arrested on March 18, 2022, the day after the body was discovered inside the tote by the grandson of an unsuspecting friend whom Bagabuyo had enlisted to rent a van and help find a place to bury the tote.

Bagabuyo was initially charged with indignity to human remains, then charged more than a year later with first-degree murder.

He had been out on bail since July 12, 2023, but was immediately taken into custody after the conviction.

The B.C. Law Society previously confirmed Bagabuyo is no longer a lawyer.

The judge-alone trial was split between Kamloops and Vancouver, but Ker said in October — after closing arguments and rebuttals had concluded — that she felt it was appropriate that the decision be given in Kamloops, where Abdullah was killed.

This report by Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press, was first published Feb. 3, 2026.