Bagabuyo doesn't want jury

A Kamloops lawyer charged with first-degree murder in the 2022 death of a Thompson Rivers University professor will no longer stand trial in front of a jury.

Butch Bagabuyo, 55, is charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Mohd Abdullah.

Bagabuyo was in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday morning in Vancouver, where he re-elected to a judge alone trial. He had previously elected to be tried by judge and jury.

Abdullah, a computer sciences instructor at TRU who also taught yoga and pilates in Kamloops, was reported missing on March 11, 2022. His body was found six days later inside a rental van parked on a cut de sac in Dufferin.

A series of pre-trial hearings and applications got underway on Monday in Vancouver, where Bagabuyo’s trial will be held following a successful change of venue application last year.

The hearings are expected to conclude next week.

Police have described the investigation into Abdullah’s death, specifically referencing the issues created by Bagabuyo’s line of work, as “unprecedented” in the city’s history — and very expensive.

Bagabuyo’s trial is scheduled to get underway in April in Vancouver.

He remains free on bail and is attending this week’s hearing via video conference.