Content
Skip to Main ContentAccessibility Help
Kitchener-Waterloo

Crown calls its final witnesses at first-degree murder trial of Robert Badgerow

The Crown is near to wrapping up its evidence in the fourth, first-degree murder trial of Robert Badgerow, charged in the 1981 death of Diane Werendowicz.

Defence witnessess to begin testimony in November

CBC News ·
Woman with blond hair smiles
A photo of Diane Werendowicz taken by her boyfriend, Colin Vandenbrink. (Hamilton Police Service)

The Crown is near to wrapping up its evidence in the fourth first-degree murder trial of Robert Badgerow. 

Forty-nine witnesses have been called to testify by the Crown since the trial began on Sept. 28. That includes ten "read-ins," which involves the Crown and defence lawyers reading transcripts from previous testimony of people who have either died or were not well enough to attend the current trial.

The trial marks the first time in Canada that a person is being tried for a fourth time on the same murder charge. Badgerow, 58, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the 1981 killing of Diane Werendowicz, a 23-year-old nursing assistant who lived in Stoney Creek, a community in east Hamilton.
Man in white shirt walks down sidewalk
Robert Badgerow arrives at the Kitchener, Ont. courthouse where his precedent-setting fourth trial on the same murder charge is being held. (Joe Pavia/CBC)

Defence next

Defence lawyers are scheduled to begin calling witnesses to the trial at Superior Court in Kitchener in November. 

It's not known if Robert Badgerow will testify. He has taken the stand in previous trials.

The phone booth from where a 911 call was made just outside Gate 6 at the Dofasco plant in Hamilton in 1981. (Hamilton Police Service)

New evidence presented

A 911 call placed from a phone booth close to the steel mill where Robert Badgerow worked was presented as new evidence in this trial.

Work records show Badgerow was on shift by Gate 6 at Dofasco the day the lunch-hour call was made to police, at 12:19 p.m.  

Testimony in court stated the caller told police information that only the killer would have known, and which had not been released to the public.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices|About CBC News
Corrections and clarifications|Submit a news tip|