A man known as one of the province’s most dangerous gang members now awaits his fate in a first-degree murder trial after 46 days in B.C. Supreme Court.
Ekene Anigbo is accused of killing 57-year-old Naramata resident Kathleen Richardson inside her home on June 9, 2021.
Anigbo’s trial started on March 2, in which the Crown told the court the defendant and co-conspirator Jalen Falk confined Richardson in her basement with zip ties and duct tape before shooting her twice in the head.
The two were arrested and charged in connection with Richardson’s death nearly two years later, in April 2023. Falk pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced on Feb. 24, 2026, to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for 16 years.
Anigbo’s legal team, however, claimed no case in the trial. In the B.C. Supreme Court for a defence to claim no case in a murder trial, it is to ask the judge to immediately acquit the accused.
Defence lawyers told Justice Beames the evidence presented by the Crown is insufficient to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
According to the Crown, the basis for the killing of Richardson is one of revenge for the May 2021 deaths of brothers Erick and Carlos Fryer, with the allegation that the people responsible for their deaths had stolen drugs and money belonging to acquaintances of Anigbo.
At the time of Richardson’s death, it was believed that one of the people responsible for the killing of the Fryer brothers was Richardson’s son, Wade Cudmore. Cudmore was suspected of residing at his mom’s home at this time.
On June 9, 2021, an officer attended Richardson’s home looking for Cudmore to warn him of an alleged murder plot against him. Instead of finding her son, the officer found a door to the residence left open and discovered Richardson’s body in the basement.
Cudmore was arrested the following day for first-degree murder of the Fryer brothers. He was sentenced in 2024 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 18 years. Cudmore’s co-accused, Anthony Graham, disappeared shortly after the killings and is considered a missing person.
During Anigbo’s trial, a woman testified that she assisted in locating Cudmore and drove two men she identified as the defendant and Falk to Richardson’s home in the early morning of June 9, 2021. The witness, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, said she stayed in the vehicle while the men went inside wearing gloves, dark clothing with hoods up, and carrying a backpack.
The woman told the court the two men emerged from Richardson’s residence “panicked” and “in a rush.” The witness recalled the man she identified as Falk going back into the residence to retrieve the backpack that had been left behind. At the same time, the witness testified that the man she identified as Anigbo walked down to the beach and threw something into the water, but she wasn’t sure what the object was.
Crown’s witness recalled Anigbo responding from the back seat, stating, “No details.” The woman told the men she had somewhere safe for them all to go and told the pair to duck inside the vehicle as they drove away from Richardson’s home.
The trio left Naramata and headed to Penticton. The witness stopped at an acquaintance’s house, where she told the court the two men stripped down to their underwear and burned the clothes they had been wearing that day.
Defence said the witness’s testimony does not prove Anigbo’s culpability.
As the witness did not see who was responsible for Richardson’s death, the defence claimed that even if the court were to find that Anigbo did enter the victim’s residence, “it does not prove that Mr. Anigbo committed any act while knowing the probable consequence of doing so would be that Mr. Falk would murder Ms. Richardson.”
Anigbo’s legal team added that if the court finds that Anigbo “was one of the individuals who entered the residence and there was a plan relating to the recovery of drugs on locating Mr. Cudmore, the court may find there is a proven offence of manslaughter.”
Following final arguments, Justice Beames said she needs time to review the submissions and prepare a decision. The verdict is expected to come on Friday, July 31.