Jurors at the Robert William Pickton trial were given a demonstration Monday on the workings of a saw that the Crown maintains was used to dismember the women Pickton is alleged to have killed. 

Sgt. Philip Ziegler, a toolmark and firearms expert, demonstrated the blade action of the reciprocating saw found in Pickton's slaughterhouse along with a number of blades. Ziegler's job was to examine the blades and compare them to cut marks on the skulls and jaw.

The saw weighs about three kilograms, he said, holding it like a person would hold a power hedge clipper. He turned it on briefly.

Jurors spent much of the day hearing about cut marks found on the remains of Sereena Abotsway, Andrea Joesbury, Mona Wilson and Brenda Wolfe.

The trial, in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, began in late January. Pickton has been charged in the deaths of Abotsway, Joesbury, Wilson, Wolfe, Marnie Frey and Georgina Papin, all women who went missing from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

In all, Pickton is accused in the deaths of 26 women. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Another trial on 20 other counts will be held later.

The marks found on the Wilson, Joesbury, and Abotsway skulls and on the jaw bone of Wolfe were all similar, Ziegler testified, adding that he believed they were made by a hand-held reciprocating saw.

He also compared a number of rib bones found on the property that displayed similar cut marks.

Ziegler was asked to compare the cut marks to a number of saw blades seized from the slaughterhouse. Of those, there were 10 for which he could not match or eliminate as having caused the damage to the skulls and jaw.

The Crown asked Ziegler to compare the cut marks to ones that are created by a band saw, another type of saw, but he said they were inconsistent with that type of saw.

With files from the Canadian Press