SECOND TRIAL FOR MURDERER WHO CARTED AROUND VICTIM'S HEAD IN B.C. CANADA

VANCOUVER, Canada - A man accused in a 10-year-old murder in which the victim’s head was severed and carried around in a plastic bucket is being re-tried in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver. The Crown’s theory is that Mihaly Illes shot Javan Dowling, 27, in the back of the head inside a van being driven by a third man, Derrick Madinsky.

• Crown counsel Dan Mulligan told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan that at the time of the April 2001 shooting, all three men were involved in the drug trade.
• Mulligan told the judge that after the shooting, Illes was in possession of Dowling’s severed head and carried it in a Home Depot bucket.
• Mulligan said the heart of the Crown’s case is a confession made by Illes at the home of a friend of Illes’ girlfriend. Illes had asked if he could store the bucket in the home and while they were in the house, he discussed the murder, said Mulligan.
• Illes said that he had shot Dowling in the back of the head four times with .22 calibre bullets or with a .22 calibre gun, he said.
• The accused told others that he used that particular calibre because the bullets would richochet inside the head and would not exit, said Mulligan.

Madinsky is expected to testify that after the shooting in the van, Illes put plastic bags over Dowling’s head and they drove the van to a marijuana grow-op house, said Mulligan. The men left Dowling’s body inside a garage at the house, he said.

• Two days after the killing, Illes and two others travelled to a remote logging road near Squamish and dumped Dowling’s dismembered remains from a duffle bag into a shallow grave, said the prosecutor.
• Madinsky is expected to testify that Dowling’s head was not among the remains, he added.
• Later, Illes told others that his motive for the murder was that Dowling was taking proceeds from the drug operation and had stolen drugs or money from other dealers, Mulligan told the judge.
• After being arrested but released without charges, Madinsky eventually co-operated with police, signing an immunity agreement and entering the witness-protection program,as part of the agreement, he led police to the location where Mr. Dowling’s remains had been buried, he said.
• “The police recovered Javan Dowling’s head and body parts in two separate graves in the back country near Squamish.”

In November 2001, Illes was charged with first-degree murder. He was found guilty by a jury but appealed and saw his appeal dismissed by the B.C. Court of Appeal. However, a further appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada saw the conviction overturned and a new trial ordered.

Source:The Province