After sitting through 10 months of testimony and arguments, and hearing from 128 witnesses, the jury in the trial of Robert William Pickton has begun deliberations.

The jury will now decide if Robert William Pickton is guilty of the first-degree murder of six women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
(CBC)

The judge wrapped up his three days of instructions to the jury Friday afternoon in Supreme Court in New Westminster, B.C.

"When you go to your jury room, your duty is to consult with each other and to deliberate with the view of reaching a just verdict," Justice James Williams said on Friday. 

"Your verdict must be based on the facts as you find them at trial and the law that I have told you applies in this case," he said.

"Keep an open mind, but not an empty head. Don't just talk, listen too."

The jury of seven men and five women will spend Friday night in a motel. Starting Saturday, they will return each day to the New Westminster courthouse to deliberate, and then return to the motel each night, until they reach a verdict.

The 12 jurors will be sequestered for up to 12 hours a day, unable to talk to friends or family, and will be watched constantly by sheriff's officers to ensure they aren't exposed to media reports or anything else that could influence their decision.

'Each of you has to decide the case for yourself … after you have considered the views of your fellow jurors and applied the law that I have explained to you.'— Justice James Williams

"Each of you has to decide the case for yourself. You should only do so, however, after you have considered the views of your fellow jurors and applied the law that I have explained to you," the judge said.

The juors will remain sequestered until they decide if Pickton, 58, is guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of six women who disappeared from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

The partial remains or traces of DNA of those women, Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Marnie Frey and Georgina Papin, were found on Pickton's pig farm in Port Coquitlam by police after his arrest in February 2002.

Pickton pleaded not guilty to all the charges and did not testify at the trial.

He has also pleaded not guilty to 20 other charges of first-degree murder in connection with 20 other women who disappeared from the Downtown Eastside.

The judge began his final instructions to the jury on Tuesday, reviewing the mountain of evidence presented during the 10-month trial.