The men who brutally beat to death a Calgary resident during a robbery at his home were acting on false allegations he had child pornography on his computer, jurors were told Monday.
In her opening address to a 14-member Calgary Court of King’s Bench jury, Crown prosecutor Vicki Faulkner detailed the case she and co-council Rebecca Ross expect to call during the course of the five-week trial of three men.
Charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 13, 2022, death of Douglasdale resident Chad Kowalchuk, 53, are Justin Boucher, Ronald Abraham and Robert Sims.
Faulkner told jurors that two other people, including former co-accused Justin Urban, hatched a plan to rob Kowalchuk of a safe he kept in his bedroom where he stashed his drugs, and brought Abraham on to assist.
The robbery plan followed the discovery of a photo of a woman’s 11-year-old daughter on Kowalchuk’s computer, which she told Urban and Abraham about and alleged the soon-to-be victim was a pedophile.
“But sometime after Abraham was brought into the plan, Abraham changed the plan,” the prosecutor said.
“The plan wasn’t just for Urban and Abraham to rob Kowalchuk of the safe, now the plan was much more,” Faulkner said.
Abraham brought in Boucher and Sims to assist, she said.
“But Boucher and Sims weren’t going to the house to rob a safe, they were going to deal with a person they had been told was a pedophile.”
They were also given an exaggerated version of what Kowalchuk had on his computer, Faulkner said.
“But just like the plan for robbery changed, the story of Kowalchuk and the pictures . . . changed, too. Now the story was he had child pornography, a video of (the woman’s) 11-year-old. Just like the original plan, the story became much bigger.
“It became much more sinister. It became a motive for murder.”
‘Kowalchuk was viciously and unrelentingly beaten, kicked and punched’: prosecutor
On the afternoon of the killing, Abraham, Boucher and Sims drove to Kowalchuk’s Douglas Ridge Green S.E. home where they were met by Urban, Faulkner told jurors.
“The four men went into Kowalchuk’s home and up the stairs to Kowalchuk’s bedroom,” she said.
“Once the bedroom door was opened, the four men attacked. What exactly happened in the bedroom, who levelled what blow at what time is unknown. But Kowalchuk was viciously and unrelentingly beaten, kicked and punched. One of his fingers was nearly cut off, another was cut down to the bone.”
The victim was then bound with ropes, duct tape and a belt, “and while Kowalchuk was tied up and unable to escape the four men continued to inflict injuries upon him until Kowalchuk was dead.”
The group then took the safe and left, but over the next several days returned to ransack the home and steal more items, Faulkner said.
Just after 5 a.m. on Feb. 18, 2022, a neighbour noticed Kowalchuk’s home was on fire, leading to the discovery of his body.
Later that day, Boucher’s sister picked him up to take him to her High River home.
“He told (his sister) he killed a pedophile. He killed a man who was molesting and had photos,” Faulkner said.
“He told her he cut off the man’s fingers so he could never touch a child again.”