Friends and relatives of murder victim Martin Payne say they are haunted by the actions of “two selfish, reckless” people who chose their victim because his home was near the prison where the men escaped.
A B.C. Supreme Court jury found James Lee Busch guilty of first-degree murder late Wednesday.
At his sentencing hearing Thursday, Justice David Crossin called the killing “cold-blooded.”
“You extinguished the life of a man simply returning from work on a Monday afternoon, a good man just returning from work.” he said.
“But you didn’t just kill him, you butchered and mutilated him, and left him lying in his own blood. It was hateful and unspeakable,” Crossin told Busch.
He sentenced Busch to life, without chance of parole for 25 years, the automatic sentence for first-degree murder.
Payne, who was 60, was murdered on July 8, 2019, a day after Busch and Zachary Armitage walked away from the minimum-security William Head prison, located eight kilometres from the victim’s home in Metchosin, west of Victoria.
Armitage entered a guilty plea to first-degree murder and has a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
Payne’s daughter, Calla Payne, told the sentencing hearing that her dad was a constant source of love and support, and the decisions made by the “two selfish, reckless” men took that away from her.
“The scariest thing about this for me is my father could have been anyone,” she said. “He entered his safe space, and instead what greeted him was terror.”
She said she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety over her father’s death.
It would be short-sighted and nearly impossible to quantify the impact of his murder for her, she said.
“My trauma will change and evolve on an hourly, daily, yearly basis for the rest of my life.”
Martin Payne’s older sister, Colleen Payne, said she has become withdrawn since his death.
She thinks about the “horrific” way he died every day, she told the court.
“My constant companion is knowing that the last moments of my brother’s life were filled with a terror. That he was bound and beaten and that his head was chopped down four times with an axe, that he knew his life was ending, that he was being killed, and his neck was stabbed through from one side to the other with a Bowie knife.”
Martin Payne’s best friend, Ian Scott, said the loss of his best friend will haunt him for the rest of his life.
“The unimaginable terror, shocking violence, cruelty, and the indignity Martin suffered in his own home, which was the sanctuary of comfort and safety, has cast a cloud of sadness over all my memories of Marty, even my fondest memories,” he said, before urging the judge to bring a sentence that reflects that loss.
Following the proceeding, Crown attorney Chandra Fisher said she was pleased with the verdict and sentence, adding that she was moved by the impact statements.
“It was hard for all of us to listen to that today,” Fisher said.
Busch chose not to address the court before he was sentenced.
He attended the hearing in shackles because of an outburst after the verdict was read Wednesday where he flipped his middle finger at the court.
He grinned at the family as he entered the courtroom Thursday before taking his usual seat on the other side of a glass barrier in front of them.
Both Busch and Armitage pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder as the trial began on Nov. 14, but Armitage entered a guilty plea two weeks later without the jury present, and the trial continued for Busch.
Outside the courthouse following the sentencing, the victim’s youngest daughter, Jessica Payne, said the trial has helped her process the trauma.
She said she wasn’t sure if the victim impact statement she read to the court had any effect on Busch, but it felt “empowering” for the family to express their grief to the court.
Calla Payne agreed with her sister, adding that though the family is happy with the outcome, no sentence “would be enough.”
“We’re happy that accountability is being taken with that length of sentence, and we hope that no one else will ever have to experience what we’ve experienced because he will be away,” she said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 15, 2022.
