A jury returned the verdict for James Lee Busch on Wednesday after deliberating for one day, unaware that Zachary Armitage had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder two weeks ago.
A William Head prison escapee has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the brutal death of a Metchosin man three years ago.
Jury members heard that the two men walked away from the minimum-security penitentiary at low tide on the evening of July 7, 2019 and found their way overnight to Martin Payne’s home in rural Metchosin. It’s not known how the murder unfolded, but the Crown believes the two escapees intended to use violence to get Payne’s PIN number for his bank card. They cut the heads off two axes to beat Payne with the handles and had a bowie knife and a hatchet nearby.
Payne tried to escape but the two stopped him at the front door. Payne was struck from behind with a hatchet and from the front with the bowie knife. The neck wound was fatal, the wound so deep it severed the arteries on both sides of his neck and injured his trachea and cervical spine. When Busch walked away from William Head, he was serving a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder in 2010. He was transferred to William Head minimum security prison in November 2018, and would have been eligible for day parole in July 2022 and full parole in 2025.
Payne’s daughters, Jessica and Calla, are suing the Correctional Service of Canada, claiming negligence allowed the two federal inmates to escape and murder their father.
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