NEW WESTMINISTER, B.C. - A blood stain analyst took the Robert Pickton jury on a tour of massive blood-letting inside a motorhome on Pickton's property Monday, including his expert suggestion that a body was dragged through the vehicle.
"Did you come to any conclusion derived from the movement, perhaps, from the bleeding object within this motorhome?" asked Crown prosecutor Derrill Prevett.
"The initial area of impact, contact, appears to have been the passenger side, rear corridor area of the motorhome," said now-retired blood spatter expert Jack Mellis.
There were bloodstains on the foam mattress, the carpet, the walls, the corridor, and on objects between the two sleeping areas at the rear of the motorhome, he said.
No names of any alleged victims were mentioned in court Monday, but in his opening statement last month, Prevett told the jury that the Crown would show that the blood belonged to Mona Wilson, one of the six women on the indictment against Pickton.
"And then a movement down the corridor to the front, but the height was approximately 30 centimetres above and consistent with someone being moved toward the front of the vehicle," said Prevett.
"Yes, very low, a lot of these stains," said Mellis.
"If it were a person bleeding, one would expect either the blood to be coming from them very low on the body, or they weren't standing," suggested Prevett.
"That's correct," said Mellis.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Adrian Brooks, Mellis was asked about his conclusion that a body was dragged down the motorhome corridor.
"This is a (motorhome) that didn't look like it had regular maid service?" asked Brooks.
Mellis agreed it was a filthy vehicle.
"The scenario you suggested is a scenario of an individual who has bled an extensive amount and yet all that's been left behind are four small stains by way of them having been dragged out?" said Brooks.
"No, there are other stains, castoff stains and projected stains around the area as well," said Mellis.
"In your scenario, this is an individual who is bleeding a tremendous amount. And then it's suggested they've been taken out and yet the only blood they leave behind are four small stains on the hallway?"
"Yes. That blood . . . may have been stemmed by a cloth or a towel or some other object that would not allow it to be passed on."
"Sir, you're just guessing."
Mellis, who was under examination by Prevett for less than half the day, held a large book of colour photos of the motorhome, which he and his team began searching Feb. 7, 2002.
Much of the testimony focused on the sleeping platform at the rear of the dilapidated motorhome and the mattress, with bloody "soak stains" and "circular stains" and "transfer wipe stains."
Mellis described several instances of "transfer wipe stains" which he said occurred when a bloody hand is wiped on another surface.
Meticulously taking the jury through many photos taken inside the motorhome, Mellis said the headboard had "stains consistent with a hand transfer wipe in a downward direction."
Mellis described a scene of blood extending from the rear of the motorhome towards the front, replete with "small-volume projected drops" on parts of the wall and other small blood droplets that "show the direction of travel or ellipse."
He told the jury that on the carpet area in the sleeping area, he found "probable cast-off drops that are shed from a moving hand."
There were blood transfer stains near the doorknob of the bathroom and "linear transfer wipe stains" moving through the passageway from the rear to the front of the motorhome, he testified.
Mellis said he found bloodied running shoes inside a closet in the motorhome that exhibited "passive castoff drip stains."
He concluded that the shoes were in a different location other than the closet when blood was deposited on them.
Mellis agreed with Brooks's suggestion that two different DNA specimens could be found in the same area but not necessarily deposited there at the same time.
Brooks asked about the differences between "high-velocity impact spatter" and "low-velocity impact spatter."
The size of the blood "mist" and "debris" and how far it extends after something like a blow or a gunshot wound depends on the calibre of a gun or force of the striking weapon.
'The amount of blood is a variable of the type of instrument," Mellis explained.
Mellis, who is testifying before Justice James Williams in B.C. Supreme Court, was the ninth of an estimated 240 witnesses the Crown has suggested will be called to testify.
Pickton is currently on trial for the murders of six women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.
The jurors are hearing evidence about the deaths of Mona Wilson, Brenda Wolfe, Marnie Frey, Sereena Abotsway, Andrea Joesbury and Georgina Papin.
Police first descended on Pickton's Port Coquitlam property Feb. 5, 2002, with a warrant to search for firearms.
The judge also told the jury, which could be hearing evidence in this trial for as long as a year, that there would be two scheduled breaks before autumn.
The jury will take a week-long break beginning April 30; its summer break will begin July 23 and court will resume Aug. 7.
