Murder trial hears tape of Richmond man confessing to ‘mad rage’ killing of brother
A Richmond man confessed to his brother that he had stabbed their younger brother multiple times in a “mad rage,” according to a taped phone call that was played in court on Friday.
The confession was made by Douglas Cameron Orr, who has pleaded not guilty to the November 2014 second-degree murder of Robert Brown Orr, 59, of Vancouver.
The Crown’s theory is that the accused confronted his brother in the lobby of the victim’s Kerrisdale apartment and stabbed him to death due to long-standing resentment and anger over a decades-old stock market transaction.
In court Friday, Crown counsel Daniel Mulligan called as his final witness, Jim Orr, who is six years younger than his brother Douglas and was 14 months older than Robert.
The witness told B.C. Supreme Court Justice James Williams that on Nov. 20, 2014, a week after the slaying, he got a phone call from the accused, who had been arrested and was in prison.
Jim Orr told the judge that at the time of the call, which Douglas would have been advised was being recorded, he had had little contact with Douglas for nearly 10 years after a falling-out between the two siblings.
The accused begins the phone call by telling Jim that he had been asking Robert for a long time about the disputed stock deal. He rambles on at length about other financial matters.
Jim responds by asking his brother whether he is trying to make him feel sorry for his older brother, and when Douglas denies this, Jim asks him how many times he has heard the story about the stock deal in the past 40 years.
Jim angrily points out that Douglas had just killed their brother, who had “nothing in his life, $25 in his pocket” and owed the government a large sum of money.
“And you f---ing killed him because you wanted some money from him, when you had twice, ten times, the amount of money he had,” said Jim.
Asked by Jim what happened, Douglas tells him that he was outside the Balsam Street apartment building and went inside and pushed Robert in an “absolute rage” and admits he has “almost no defence.”
“It sounds like you’re trying to come up with a defence,” says Jim.
“No, no, I’m not trying to come up with a defence, Jim. There’s no defence, Jim,” says Douglas.
“But how many times did you stab him,” says Jim.
“Multiple times,” says Douglas. “I was, uh, it was a mad rage, mad mad rage. I’m not, I’m not trying to justify it...”
Jim tells Douglas that he and Robert were “extremely close” and had discussed the stock deal, and Robert had “no knowledge” about what Douglas was talking about.
Later in the 30-minute conversation, Jim denies that Robert, who he says at one point had earned $20 million to $30 million as a stockbroker, ever “screwed” anyone, and tells him that Robert was “generous to a fault.”
“Robert screwed himself over and over again. He made himself so much money and just pissed it away and gambled it away, but he never stole or took from other people.”
Jim presses Douglas to plead guilty and spare their mother, who he says has suffered a broken heart, any further ordeal.
He tells Douglas that Douglas has talked about killing himself many times and demands to know why he hasn’t done it.
“Just because, well, first of all, you’ve got to get it right, otherwise, you make a mistake, you end up in a bigger mess,” replies Douglas.
“You don’t have the balls, that’s why,” says Jim. “You just don’t have the balls, so you have the balls to kill Robert.”
Jim adds: “So, you, all you’re doing is tainting my memory of Robert and I really, it’s distasteful, Douglas, it really is.”
The trial, which began in 2015 but was adjourned soon after when a judge ordered Douglas to undergo a psychiatric assessment after his lawyer said he couldn’t get proper instructions from him, resumed earlier this year.
On Monday, Martin Peters, Douglas Orr’s lawyer, is expected to call evidence including testimony from his client and from a psychiatrist.
All you’re doing is tainting my memory of Robert and I really, it’s distasteful, Douglas, it really is.