Former B.C. lawyer planned murder of his client, Crown tells court

The Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Thursday, Nov. 23, 2023. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

VANCOUVER — The Crown attorney in the first-degree murder trial of a former Kamloops lawyer says the accused methodically planned the murder of his client for more than a week.

Ann Katrine Saettler told a B.C. Supreme Court judge in Vancouver that Rogelio ‘Butch’ Bagabuyo wrote a “planning note” that reminded him to bag everything after, not to bring his mobile phone or E-watch, turn off his GPS and throw his garbage out.

“This note, which had to be written before the event, suggests he has thought about where to commit that murder and why,” she told the court Tuesday in her closing arguments.

Bagabuyo is accused of first-degree murder in the March 11, 2022, killing of his client Mohd Abdullah, a lecturer at Thompson Rivers University.

Bagabuyo’s lawyer Mark Swartz has not yet made his final arguments in the trial, but confirmed to the judge on Monday that his client admits that he killed Abdullah but asserts it was manslaughter.

When asked by the judge for clarity on Tuesday, Swartz said his client agrees the murder happened at the law office.

The court heard earlier that Abdullah hired Bagabuyo in 2016 and they conspired to hide “large sums of money” during Abdullah’s separation from his wife.

Bagabuyo later spent the cash.

Saettler said Bagabuyo delayed the return of Abdullah’s money for several years, fabricating reasons such as the need to set up shell corporations or concerns about the Canadian Revenue Agency.

Abdullah grew impatient about getting his money back, Saettler said Monday, citing emails and a 2021 audio recording where Abdullah pressed Bagabuyo about the money.

The Crown’s theory is that Bagabuyo had decided on March 1, 2022, “he would not be able to continue to fool Mr. Abdullah much longer” and devised the plan, the court heard.

To show premeditation, Saettler showed a video of the accused buying a tote from Home Depot that matched the one where Abdullah’s body was later found.

She said Tuesday that the decision to buy a tote that size to simply store legal papers was unreasonable and supported the Crown’s theory that the murder was planned.

“In the Crown’s submission, there’s just no rational reason why someone would go at that time, buy that particular bin and use that particular bin for moving papers,” Saettler said. “And why would one need to ratchet it closed if it’s just papers?”

Saettler said Bagabuyo stabbed Abdullah to death, when he arrived for a meeting at the law office, which was under restoration after a fire.

She pointed to evidence that showed Bagabuyo bringing a duffel bag into the office building about two hours before the pair met.

“Some of the things that he needs for that murder are in that duffel bag, and some of the things he needs for the cleanup are in that duffel bag,” she said Tuesday.

“It’s an empty, hollowed-out office. The only thing he can do in that office is prepare for the murder.”

She said evidence presented at trial proved Abdullah was stabbed by a knife that had a blunt side and a sharp side.

“It’s not the type of item someone might just randomly be carrying around in their back pocket and spontaneously pull out and use.”

After the murder, the Crown said Bagabuyo wrapped Abdullah’s body in plastic sheeting, put a garrote around his neck, placed him in the bin and secured it with ratchet straps. He then hauled the bin into his car.

Saettler pointed to gaps in Bagabuyo’s backyard cameras, notably between March 10 and 16, which she said is “strong evidence of planning and deliberation in advance of the murder.”

“They would have recorded wherever Mr. Bagabuyo stored the bin containing the body,” she said. “They would have in all likelihood recorded the making of the garrote.”

She said he also purchased a propane tank and other items he planned to use to dispose of the body, including a hacksaw, but his plans for disposal changed when he was contacted by police on March 15 about Abdullah being missing.

Bagabuyo sought the help of an unsuspecting neighbour, who he convinced to rent a van and help him dispose of the tote where he put the body, Saettler said.

“It’s not clear where Mr. Abdullah’s body was stored from the time he was taken from Victoria Street until he reappears in the box on March 15 when it’s loaded into the back of the rental van,” she said Tuesday.

Saettler also pointed to Bagabuyo’s demeanour and tone during another conversation with an officer that took place on March 17 about Abdullah’s disappearance.

She said he “was not acting like someone who is caught off guard, or was panicked by this whole thing, if it was indeed a manslaughter.”

“If this had been not something he had been thinking about for a period of time, that he had planned out, he’s come up with a very calm reaction to being confronted by police at that time,” she said.

Bagabuyo was arrested on March 18, 2022, the day after the body was discovered inside the tote by the neighbour’s grandson.

He was initially charged with indignity to human remains on March 18, 2022, then charged more than a year later with first-degree murder. He’s been out on bail since July 12, 2023.

Bagabuyo attended court on Tuesday wearing a dark pinstriped suit, blue dress shirt and tie.

The B.C. Law Society says Bagabuyo is no longer a practising lawyer and a custodian was appointed to wind up his legal practice in May 2022.

This report by Brieanna Charlebois of The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2025.