WARNING: This story includes details from a murder trial and may be triggering for some readers.
Graphic testimony about a badly disfigured body dominated a Kelowna courtroom Monday as the second-degree murder trial of Gabriella Sears entered its second week, with a senior crime scene officer describing what he found inside a Sycamore Road home back in 2021.
Transgender woman Gabriella Sears is charged in relation to the death of Darren Middleton, as well as the charge of interference with human remains.
Crime Scene Manager Staff Sergeant Timothy Russell entered the witness stand last week and continued his testimony in Kelowna Supreme Court on Dec. 15.
Russell testified that when he arrived on scene, he discovered Middleton’s body and witnessed that the victim’s face was completely disfigured.
“The face was distorted or obscured in such a manner that it appeared as though I was looking at the back of his head,” Russell told the court about seeing Middleton’s body on the bathroom floor on June 17, 2021. “But it was hard to process that information, because that couldn’t be the case unless his head had been completely turned around.”
Russell stated it was later found that cuttings of hair, which he believed to be from a synthetic wig, were covering the victim’s face.
Middleton died of blunt force trauma to the head, suffered a severed penis, and was missing his testicles. A search inside the property was conducted by officers in the early hours of June 17 for further human remains, but nothing was found.
Russell told the court that a tactical team conducted a search of the community days after the crime, between the crime scene on Sycamore Road and the location where Sears was arrested on Moyer Road, also looking for human remains.
No remains were found.
Following Sears’ arrest, she confessed to police that she had killed Middleton. After a voir dire, however, the judge ruled the confessions may not be used as evidence in the trial on the grounds that Sears’ rights were violated by police.
The trial has faced various delays with Sears’ unexpectedly firing her defence lawyers mid-trial in December 2023. Then, in June 2024, her new counsel filed an application to withdraw from the case, making them the third set of lawyers to represent Sears in the trial.
In response to the unusual decision, Justice Carol Ross ordered that Sears undergo a month-long psychiatric assessment. It was later determined that Sears was fit to stand trial.
The trial continues through the week.