Pubdate: Tue, 20 Mar 2007
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2007, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Robert Matas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

RCMP PICKED UP DRUG-TREATMENT TAB FOR PICKTON WITNESS

Form Of 'Maintenance,' Officer Tells Trial

NEW WESTMINSTER -- The jury at the Robert Pickton trial first heard 
the name Andrew Bellwood on the opening day of the sensational 
proceedings almost two months ago. Crown prosecutor Derrill Prevett 
said Mr. Bellwood would be called as a witness to testify that Mr. 
Pickton had told him how he killed prostitutes.

The jury heard the name again yesterday in B.C. Supreme Court. This 
time, however, it was the defence who brought Mr. Bellwood's name 
into the trial.

During cross-examination by defence lawyer Adrian Brooks, RCMP 
Constable Douglas Forsyth confirmed that police covered the cost of a 
drug-treatment program for Mr. Bellwood in December, 2004.

The officer, who has been with the RCMP for 16 years, did not offer 
an estimate of the cost of the program. The Edgewood Addictions 
Treatment Centre in Nanaimo, B.C., billed the Mounties directly, 
Constable Forsyth said.

He was not authorized to pay the treatment centre, Constable Forsyth 
added. "They do not let me spend that much money," he said.

As Mr. Pickton sat in the prisoner's box, watching the officer 
closely, Constable Forsyth also testified that the RCMP paid for Mr. 
Bellwood's domestic partner to enroll in a drug-treatment program at 
Edgewood, which cost $1,000 for eight days. Police also covered the 
cost of Mr. Bellwood's rent of $920 for three months while he was in 
the drug-treatment program.

Constable Forsyth's contact with Mr. Bellwood was described by Mr. 
Brooks as "witness maintenance." In response to questioning, the 
officer confirmed that he met a number of times with Mr. Bellwood, 
and, on at least one occasion, he picked up the dinner bill.

He was "trying to keep the lines of communication open with him," the 
officer told the court. Knowing Mr. Bellwood was to be called to 
testify, Constable Forsyth wanted to keep a good working relationship 
with Mr. Bellwood, he said.

Mr. Bellwood has not yet testified in court but the jury has already 
heard his voice. The police played a tape recording of Mr. Bellwood, 
recounting Mr. Pickton's remarks for Mr. Pickton to hear during a 
police interview after he was arrested in February, 2002.

On the tape, Mr. Bellwood says Mr. Pickton told him he strangled 
prostitutes, took them into the barn, bled them, gutted them and fed 
them to the pigs. Mr. Pickton sounds incredulous when he hears Mr. 
Bellwood on tape. "This guy is out to lunch," Mr. Pickton told the 
police. "Funny stories in there, aren't they?" Mr. Pickton said later.

Mr. Pickton is on trial for the murder of six drug-addicted 
prostitutes, Sereena Abotsway, Andrea Joesbury, Marnie Frey, Brenda 
Wolfe, Georgina Papin and Mona Wilson. A date has not yet been set 
for a second trial for Mr. Pickton on the murder of 20 additional women.

Gordon Meisner, a retired RCMP corporal, told the court that a palm 
print was discovered on the outside of a freezer that contained human 
remains. Mr. Meisner was part of the Pickton investigation at various 
times over 15 months beginning in June, 2002.

In response to defence questioning, Mr. Meisner said he checked 
whether the print matched Mr. Pickton's palm. He concluded it was not 
Mr. Pickton's, but he did not compare the print to anyone else, Mr. 
Meisner said. "The only person I compared it to was Mr. Pickton, 
Robert Pickton," he said.
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