Final arguments are now underway in the trial of a man accused of killing an Abbotsford police officer in 2017.
Oscar Arfmann, 67, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Const. John Davidson. Davidson was fatally shot while in the parking lot of a shopping complex on Mount Lehman Road on November 6, 2017. Arfmann has pleaded not guilty.
In the crown’s closing submissions, prosecutor Wendy Stephen said the issue is whether they can prove Arfmann was the person who shot Davidson.
“We say the answer to that is a resounding yes,” Stephen told the court.
She pointed out images captured at the shopping complex show a man wearing identical clothes to the ones Arfmann was wearing when he was arrested. She argued there can be no doubt a black mustang captured on various video evidence is the same one throughout, pointing out there are only 17 seconds where it’s out of sight of cameras.
“It’s our submission there’s only one person associated with that vehicle, and that’s Mr. Arfmann himself,” Stephen said.
Stephen said only eight to nine minutes pass from what Crown considers to be the first of three events significant to the case – an altercation outside a Quizno’s restaurant – to Arfmann’s arrest, and added to suggest it could have been someone else would be to "speculate to the point of absurdity."
“All of that evidence adds up to Mr. Arfmann indeed being the man who killed Constable Davidson,” Stephen said.
Defence lawyer Martin Peters also began his final submissions, focussing on inconsistencies between witness testimony. He agreed the timeline between events that day is tight, but said there’s no absolute license plate identification at the scene of the fatal shooting.
“I’m going to suggest that actually the reliability and credibility of the crown’s witnesses have been significantly challenged,” Peters said.
He called the case “circumstantial” due to a lack of direct evidence between the gun, the car, and the suspect.
“The case is not as strong as this looks like,” Peters said.
Abbotsford Police Chief Const. Mike Serr came to court to hear the final arguments and support Davidson’s family members, who have attended since the beginning.
“They are such an amazing family. So strong, so courageous, and they in turn give us a lot of strength,” Serr said.
He also offered thanks to crown counsel, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, and everyone who testified during the trial.
“For our members, for the community, for civilian witnesses to give their testimony, to relive the days of John’s murder, I know was incredibly difficult and challenging,” Serr said.
The defence did not end up presenting any evidence in the trial. On July 24, Peters told CTV News Vancouver Arfmann was the only witness the defence intended to call, but they ultimately received different instructions from him and he ended up not taking the stand.
In their opening statement, the Crown said Davidson was shot twice from behind.
The court also previously heard testimony from a car dealership employee and general manager, who told the court they had recognized a Mustang that had been stolen from their lot days before the shooting, and police were called. The employee, Corey Thomas, testified he drove his blue Ford F-150 to the shopping complex and boxed in the Mustang so it could not move. He then testified he was confronted by Arfmann.
"He told me to 'move that piece of shit,'" Thomas told the court.
Thomas said he then told Arfmann that police were on their way.
"I’ll show you what I have in store for the police," Arfmann said according to Thomas’ testimony.
Final arguments are scheduled to continue Friday.
