Former Filipino Attorney Convicted of Client’s Murder in Canada

A Filipino former lawyer has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of first-degree murder in the 2022 killing of his client in Kamloops, Canada.

Attorney Rogelio “Butch” Bagabuyo was convicted for the murder of Mohd Abdullah, an instructor at Thompson Rivers University, in a case that prosecutors said was driven by missing funds amounting to nearly $800,000.

In her ruling, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker said the killing was premeditated. The court cited evidence showing that Bagabuyo purchased items used in the crime, including the container where the victim’s body was placed and garbage bags recovered from the scene.

Investigators also relied on security camera footage across the city, which helped trace the victim’s final movements. The footage showed Abdullah arriving at Bagabuyo’s office on Victoria Street on March 11, 2022, for a meeting.

A forensic pathologist testified that Abdullah died from multiple stab wounds, including deep chest injuries that pierced a lung.

The victim’s body was later stuffed into a plastic storage tote and loaded into his own SUV. Bagabuyo then sought the help of an elderly acquaintance in an attempt to dispose of the evidence. The body was eventually discovered in Monterey Place in Kamloops.

Justice Ker also described Bagabuyo as a “fraudster,” finding that he had embezzled up to $800,000 that Abdullah had entrusted to him.

Court records showed that the two men were friends and that Abdullah asked Bagabuyo to hold the money during his separation from his estranged wife. The trial heard that Abdullah hired Bagabuyo in 2016, and they arranged to hide more than $780,000 during the separation.

By April 2018, the funds had been depleted. The court heard that Bagabuyo spent the money on personal living expenses and would have been unable to return it to Abdullah.

After Abdullah’s wife died in September 2019 before their divorce was finalized,

Bagabuyo convinced him to leave the money in his care for two more years, claiming it would protect the funds from the wife’s estate or relatives.

The court found that Bagabuyo began planning the murder more than a week before the killing after realizing he could no longer delay or deceive Abdullah, who was demanding the return of his money.

The judge rejected Bagabuyo’s claim that the killing was not premeditated. He was sentenced to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 25 years and has been disbarred from practicing law.