Charter challenge in ‘Bob the Builder’ case
Evidence connected to 2011 killing wasn’t investigated by police, defence claims
An Edmonton murder suspect who eluded arrest for years by living under an alias in British Columbia plans to file a Charter challenge over evidence he says is missing from his trial.
Gordon Shaw is on trial for second-degree murder in connection to the 2011 death of Bob Anderson.
Anderson, 70, was found dead in his apartment in the area of 65 Street and 128 Avenue on May 31, 2011.
Shaw was arrested in B.C. in August 2011 and transferred back to Edmonton.
However, after being released, he didn’t show up to a court date in September 2011.
He was on the lam until March 2016, when police discovered him living in Chase, B.C., under the alias “Bob Stenton,” advertising his handyman services in the local newspaper as “Bob the Builder.”
The trial began Monday and is expected to run until late April.
On Thursday, after hearing evidence from police officers who investigated Anderson’s death, which was determined to have been caused by blunt force trauma to the head, Shaw’s lawyer Simon Trela told court he plans to make a motion that Section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms has been violated by police not investigating voicemails left on cordless phones found in Anderson’s apartment after his death.
Prosecutor Anders Quist said he will oppose the application, arguing the Crown’s exclusion of the voicemails from the case isn’t new information, and that the defence didn’t raise the issue during a pretrial conference.
He added that the police do not have the phones or copies of the voicemails.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman commented that the defence’s motion seems “highly speculative,” and declined Trela’s request to adjourn the trial until the motion has been heard. Trela is expected to file his application Tuesday morning.