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By Dylana Kneeshaw

FIRST-DEGREE MURDER TRIAL

Closing arguments wrap up in lawyer-client murder trial; judge’s decision to be given in Kamloops

Oct 9, 2025 | 4:33 PM

VANCOUVER — Butch Bagabuyo was avoiding his financial and legal problems, but murdering the client he was using as a ‘golden goose’ wasn’t the expected outcome, according to closing arguments made by defense this week.

Final arguments wrapped up Thursday afternoon (Oct. 9) in the first-degree murder trial of a former Kamloops lawyer accused of killing his client. Rogelio ‘Butch’ Bagabuyo is accused of fatally stabbing former TRU instructor Mohd Abdullah in March of 2022 at his downtown law office.

Court heard from both Crown and defence how Bagabuyo and Abdullah hatched a plan to hide nearly $800,000 of the university lecturer’s retirement savings from his then-wife during his 2016 divorce. In the six years he was supposed to have been holding that money in trust, Bagabuyo spent every penny — and then some. He was $180,000 in debt by the time he was arrested.

Bagabuyo’s lawyer Mark Swartz claims Abdullah continued to send money to Bagabuyo as requested and was well aware of the unlawfulness of what they were doing, making it unlikely he’d report Bagabuyo unless he was prepared to implicate himself.

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Swartz said the more time passed, the more agitated Abdullah became about delays in getting his money back from Bagabuyo, apparently unaware it was gone.

Defence theorized Bagabuyo came clean to Abdullah at their deadly March 11 meeting and it’s possible Abdullah began to physically attack Bagabuyo in a fit of rage. Defence submits it’s unclear who grabbed the knife first, but Abdullah was stabbed repeatedly and a panicked Bagabuyo opted not to report it to police to avoid the fraudulent activities coming to light.

Thursday, Swartz addressed the stabbing itself, citing autopsy evidence around how deep the knife wounds were, and asserted it didn’t satisfy beyond a reasonable doubt that Bagabuyo meant to kill Abdullah when he used the knife.

Bagabuyo is pursuing a lesser manslaughter charge instead of first- or second-degree murder charges.

“I make the submission that the depth of the knife wounds is not so deep that it can be said that such force was exerted relative to the length of the blade that can lead to the conclusion that he intended to kill Mr. Abdullah or knew that death was likely,” Swartz states.

Swartz says the second-floor office downtown also wouldn’t have made sense for a planned murder, with street parking hard to come by, a flight of stairs to take a body down, and he also pointed out that the shared office space was under renovation and had no expectation of privacy.

This is in contrast to the Crown’s submission that Bagabuyo meticulously plotted the killing ten days earlier and purchased a number of items in advance to carry out and cover up the deed.

Defence chalks up many of those purchases — like the two tote bins, poly sheeting, a propane tank, hacksaw and gloves — as being in line with Bagabuyo’s tendency to buy duplicates of items he already had in his home, describing Bagabuyo as an ‘impulsive’ shopper.

Over the course of the trial, Crown witnesses included police, friends of the victim, the elderly friend who rented the van for Bagabuyo, financial advisors and more. Bagabuyo opted not to testify on his behalf, calling no evidence.

Now, it will be up to Justice Kathleen Ker to rule on whether Bagabuyo’s actions merit a first- or second-degree murder conviction, or manslaughter. The decision will be rendered in BC Supreme Court in Kamloops, expected sometime in December.