Two veteran RCMP officers choked up in a Penticton courtroom as they recalled their discovery of a woman who had been beaten and held captive by David Wesley Bobbitt.
Cpl. Brian Burke told Bobbitt’s dangerous offender hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on Tuesday that he and two other officers searched Bobbitt’s second-hand shop on Ellis Street after the victim’s car was found nearby early on July 31, 2011.
In a back room, Burke found the woman sitting up on a pull-out couch with her toddler son beside her, both of them covered in blood.
“And what was odd was that there was toys… there was toys beside the kid and a box of toys under the bed,” said Burke as he fought to regain his composure.
“I’ve seen a lot of things over the years, but (this was) probably one of the worst,” the 27-year veteran added later.
Cpl. Jill Wrigglesworth, who’s been on the force for 16 years, told the hearing Friday the 22-year-old female victim’s left ankle was tied to the bed.
“It didn’t even look like a person at that time,” said Wrigglesworth, who also struggled for words as she described the naked, bloodied woman clutching a blanket to her chest.
Wrigglesworth said the victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, had gashes on her face and head, plus “extensive bruising” on her forearms.
“Later I overheard (the bruising) was because she was holding her child while she was being hit,” the Mountie added.
Bobbitt, who has shown little emotion throughout the hearing, bowed his head and put one hand over his eyes as both officers described the grisly scene he left behind.
The 38-year-old has already pleaded guilty to seven offences, including aggravated sexual assault, related to the incident. The Crown is now seeking to have him declared a dangerous offender and given an indeterminate jail sentence.
The hearing also heard Friday from an undercover RCMP officer who was planted in Bobbitt’s cell at the Penticton detachment after his arrest on Aug. 3, 2011.
Bobbitt seemed angry and surprised when he realized he’d be sharing the space, the officer said, and levelled a threat as soon as the cell door closed.
“He looked at me and advised that he should kill me by biting out my Adam’s apple . . . to prove how dangerous in fact he really was,” said the officer, who asked that his name not be published to protect his safety.
But the officer also said he had about four inches and 20 pounds on Bobbitt, whom he estimated at five-foot-seven and 170 pounds, and told Bobbitt he wasn’t afraid of him.
He said Bobbitt backed down and went to his side of the cell, then soon after mentioned his lawyer had told him he was facing “seven to 10 years.”
“He starts laughing and says, ‘That’s if they don’t find the others,” the officer added.
Bobbitt, he continued, described himself as “Canada’s most wanted,” and boasted about the incident at the second-hand shop.
“He told me he had used a rubber hammer and struck her over the head so she had collapsed on the ground and her scalp was exposed,” the officer said.
Bobbitt never offered an explanation for the offence, the Mountie recalled, other than claiming the victim was “one tough bitch” and “had done him wrong.”
During their approximately 12 hours together, Bobbitt also told the officer about a handful of other violent incidents in which he claimed to have been involved, and threatened to kill a nurse, doctor and police involved in the investigation.
The hearing continues Friday, with further dates likely in October and November.
