Killer’s identity is key question, Crown says

NEW WESTMINSTER — The police chief of Abbotsford said hearing details of Const. John Davidson’s final moments has been difficult but it brings some relief to know the trial of a man accused in his fatal shooting is nearing its end.

Oscar Arfmann has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the B.C. Supreme Court trial by judge alone.

Crown counsel presented a video Thursday with the sound of two gunshots ringing out as part of closing arguments.

“For me, it was certainly very difficult to see that video and understand John’s last moments, but I also saw how heroic John was to go in there when he knew someone had just shot a gun and the public was in danger,” Chief Mike Serr said outside the court.

Davidson, 53, had been with the Abbotsford Police Department for 11 years when he died on Nov. 6, 2017.

Crown prosecutor Wendy Stephen told Justice Carol Ross that she must agree that Arfmann was the man who shot and killed the officer in order to find him guilty.

Davidson was responding to a report of a stolen vehicle and shots fired when he was shot twice from behind at close range with a high-powered rifle. The first bullet struck the middle of his back and the second, the base of his skull, Stephen said.

It’s clear that Davidson was killed in the line of duty, a criteria for first-degree murder, and that the killing was intentional, she told the court.

“The only issue really in this case is the identification of Mr. Arfmann as Const. Davidson’s killer,” Stephen said.

Stephen said witness accounts, photos and video footage identify Arfmann as the man who killed Davidson, an assertion disputed by his defence.

As Stephen presented her final arguments Arfmann leaned back in his chair with crossed arms, folded a tissue and occasionally touched his face and shoulder-length grey hair.

He had been scheduled to testify in his own defence last week ,but his lawyer Martin Peters said Arfmann changed his mind and no defence was called.

Stephen pieced together a timeline Thursday of the events leading up to Davidson’s death.

The Crown alleges Arfmann took a Ford Mustang from a car dealership without paying two days before the shooting.

Dealership employees spotted the vehicle in a strip-mall parking lot and two managers reported it to police. When a man identified as Arfmann by the managers returned to the Mustang, they told him police were on the way, Stephen said.

One of the managers has testified he heard him respond, “I’ll show you what I have in store for police,” Stephen said. However, Peters noted the other manager couldn’t corroborate the statement.

The suspect then reached into the passenger side of the Mustang, pulled out a rifle, and shot toward them, Stephen told the court. He drove away from the scene, then circled back around the same time that Davidson arrived in an unmarked pickup, Stephen said.

Footage shown in court and witness accounts describe the pickup pulling up to the Mustang, the driver’s side door of the truck opening, two shots ringing out and the Mustang driving away again, Stephen said.

One witness testified that he heard the first shot, then watched a man with long salt-and-pepper hair wearing a black leather jacket holding a long-barrel gun, pointing it toward Davidson on the ground and shooting again, Stephen said. “A number of people made heroic efforts to help Const. Davidson, but to no avail,” Stephen said.

Only eight or nine minutes passed between Arfmann’s alleged confrontation with the dealership managers and his arrest, after officers rammed his car with their vehicle, Stephen said. Arfmann was arrested in a black leather jacket and large belt, and Stephen said witnesses also describe the man who shot Davidson as wearing the same clothing and to suggest it was someone else, “would be to speculate to the point of absurdity.”