Witness reveals Bise’s risky behaviour

(CNS): A local man who was supposed to meet with the murdered Swiss banker, Fredrick Bise, on the night he was killed but who never saw his friend alive again told the court Thursday that Bise was engaging in risky behaviour with people of questionable character. The witness, who had been a sexual partner of Bise, said he had indulged in a sexual threesome with Bise and another local man who was a known criminal and who had been to prison. He also said that Bise had engaged in sexual activity on beaches and other outdoor places and had asked the witness to go to Barkers to have sex with him, but he had refused as he said it was too dangerous. 

During the second day of evidence in the trial of West Bay man Chad Anglin for the murder of Bise in 2008, the witness told the court that Bise had texted him the night before he was killed, asking to meet up. Although the witness had initially agreed, he was tired and had instead fallen asleep, he told the court. During the course of the evening Bise had both called and texted his friend several more times but because he was sleeping he did not see most of the texts and missed calls until the next morning, he said.

The court heard that the last call made to the witness from Bise was a little before 2am on the morning of 8 February, just a few hours before his badly beaten body was found in the back of his own burned out car in front of the house where he was living. When the witness played back the voice messages the next day, before he knew his friend was dead, he said it was just the sound of the wind, which was very strange. The witness also revealed that he had deleted the messages and calls from his phone just in case it was lost as he did not want anyone to see the messages he exchanged about sex or with his sexual partners.

The witness said he did not know why, after Bise had arranged to meet him that night for sex, he had also texted a third man that the witness said he didn't know, implying an invitation for sex with that man as well.

Other witnesses called during Thursday’s proceedings included two men who were in Kelly’s bar on the night before Bise was killed. Both said they had seen Anglin and Bise leave Kelly’s bar together around closing time in Bise’s silver SUV. A statement from a third witness, which was read to the jury, also revealed that before he left with Anglin, Bise had been chatting to another local customer who was known to beg people for drinks in the bar and who the regulars also believed was homosexual.

Bise’s body was found in the trunk of his burned out SUV in front of the house where he was living in West Bay on the morning of 8 February 2008. The crown's case is that Bise, who was gay, was the victim of a hate crime at the hands of Anglin and at least one other man, who is to be tried later this year. Although Anglin was arrested shortly after Bise’s body was found, as he was the last person known to have been seen with Bise before he died, he was never charged. It was not until detectives from the RCIPS’s new Cold Case Unit established in 2010 reviewed the case that any charges were brought.

The trial continues in Court Two Friday when the crown will be calling expert witnesses relating to pathology, DNA and scenes of crime via video links.