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Stobbe said someone else came into yard: witness

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 02/3/2012 11:09 AM | Last Modified: 02/3/2012 11:43 AM | Updates

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Beverly Rowbotham (JEFF DE BOOY / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

Wiretap Audio

This is the audio of an RCMP wiretap of Mark Stobbe's home phone recorded late Feb. 28, 2001.

On Feb. 28, 2001, RCMP told Beverly Rowbotham's older sister Betty and Betty's husband Ed Bachewich that Beverly was killed the backyard of her St. Andrews home.

RCMP also told the couple they had forensic evidence proving Rowbotham was attacked in the backyard. Betty Rowbotham later phoned Stobbe to tell him what RCMP had said.

The conversation was recorded on an RCMP wiretap of Mark Stobbe's home phone, and the recording was played as evidence in Stobbe's trial.

Listen to their conversation (7m08s .mp3)

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Testimony in the Beverly Rowbotham murder trial continues today with more evidence from Ed Bachewich.

Bachewich is the husband of Betty Rowbotham, Beverly's older sister.

Bachewich told the jury Mark Stobbe, Beverly's husband, told him at some point after his wife's Oct. 24, 2000 death, that it was difficult to hear things outside his St. Andrews home, like a car pulling up in the driveway.

Bachewich also told court Stobbe said "someone" must have come into the yard a week or so after Rowbotham's death.

Beverly Rowbotham was found slain inside the family's car outside Kelly's Selkirk Service Station, 14 kilometres from her home.

Stobbe, 54, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder.

The jury has been told Rowbotham's body -- she was barefoot -- was found slumped in the back seat of the couple's Crown Victoria sedan, her skull split open and a finger and part of another finger chopped off.

A pair of socks and slip-on shoes were also on the car's back-seat floor.

Court has already heard Stobbe told family that his wife made a spur-of-the-moment decision to drive to Safeway in Selkirk after the couple had put their two boys to bed.

Bachewich told the jury that Stobbe called his home about 3 a.m. Oct. 25, telling him he had fallen asleep watching TV and when he woke up, he discovered his wife missing.

The Crown says Stobbe killed his wife with a hatchet in the home's backyard. He then tried to cover it up by putting his wife's body in the backseat of the family car and driving it to Selkirk and riding a bike back to the house.

He then called Bachewich and his wife Betty to say that Beverly was missing.

The trial, ending its first week of testimony, is to run until the end of March.

More than 70 witnesses are to testify.