After almost seven months of presenting evidence, the Crown team has concluded its case against Robert Pickton, who is being tried in the deaths of six women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Robert Pickton, left, takes notes while his lawyer, Peter Ritchie, questions a Crown witness in February.
(Jane Wolsak/Canadian Press)

The defence will begin its portion of the trial in New Westminster, B.C., beginning Monday.

Staff Sgt. Wayne Clary was the Crown's 98th and final witness on Monday. He is currently the primary investigator in the case.

The Crown asked about the focus of the investigation, and whether police had concentrated only on Pickton as the defence has suggested.

"There was not instruction at anytime, but any investigators directing this investigation to focus their investigative efforts on Mr. Pickton," Crown attorney Mike Petrie asked, "or to de-emphasize their investigation of other persons?"

"Actually to the contrary, we went far afield."  Clary replied.

Asked why three others — Pat Casanova, Gina Houston and Lynn Ellingsen — were arrested but never charged in connection with this case, Clary said an arrest can simply be an investigative technique, not necessarily an indication of a person's guilt.

Lawyer Adrian Brooks, seen in 2003, says the defence presentation will take roughly three weeks.
(Chuck Stoody/Canadian Press)

After Clary's brief time in the box, the Crown said: "It has been a long time coming, but on review of our case I am satisfied that the evidence that the Crown should be calling, has been called and as a result, I am pleased to announce this morning that that is the case for the Crown."

Judge James Williams then explained the process and what happens next to the jury saying, "You may recall way back in the distant fog of time when we started we were all much younger, I explained that the Crown has carriage of the case, because of course the Crown has the obligation to prove their case."

He then asked the defence whether they were electing to call evidence, and Pickton's lawyers confirmed they would be.

Defence lawyer Adrian Brooks said Pickton's lawyers told the court they would need this week to deal with applications, and the jury was sent away and told to return Monday for the start of the defence's case.  

Outside court, Brooks said the defence was "confident and ready to go," and estimated a three-week presentation.

Pickton, 57, is facing 26 counts of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearances of women from the Downtown Eastside.

He is currently being tried for the deaths of Andrea Joesbury, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Brenda Wolfe, Marnie Frey and Georgina Papin, all women who disappeared between 1997 and 2001.

A trial on the other 20 counts is to be held at a later date.

Seven months of testimony

The Crown began presenting its case nearly seven months ago in the New Westminster courthouse under intense media scrutiny, starting with what was perhaps their strongest evidence: The voice of Robert Pickton himself on video talking about murder.

Jurors heard him speaking to police as he was interrogated, and later to an undercover officer planted in his cell, saying he wanted to do one more to make it an even 50, but that he got sloppy.

The defence argued that what Pickton said did not amount to a confession, because the police tricked him and the interview was far too long.

Inhaler discovered

Jurors then continued to hear from more investigators. They learned that police initially entered the farm looking for weapons, but stumbled upon an inhaler belonging to Abotsway.

Eventually, a massive police search of Picton's pig farm led to the seizure of more than 600,000 exhibits.

In the ensuing weeks and months, the Crown's case turned to the analysis of those exhibits, including weeks of technical evidence surrounding blood spatters, forensic swabbing and DNA matching from over 235,000 samples tested.

Jurors heard and saw the gruesome conditions in which the remains of the six women were found, but also learned that no guns on the farm could be matched to bullets recovered and that no saw blades could be positively matched to tool marks on the remains.

The evidence then shifted to non-expert evidence, including the many who were personal friends of Pickton. One such friend was Ellingsen, the only witness in this trial to say she saw Pickton butchering a body.

Body hanging from hook

She told the jury that she saw Pickton in his slaughterhouse one night with the body of a woman hanging from a hook.

Despite an intensive cross-examination, the defence failed to shake Ellingsen from her story.

Other key witnesses provided some of the most gripping testimony for the Crown, including claims that Pickton once described how he would kill prostitutes.

But the defence raised doubts about the credibility of the Crown witnesses, pointing out contradictions and memory lapses in their testimony, as well as the fact that many were drug addicts or had criminal records.

As the trial progressed, Pickton himself began to show more of a reaction to what was going on as he heard from people he knew, passing notes furiously at times to his defence team, who spent days trying to destroy their credibility.

With files from the Canadian Press