Unreliable witnesses: Defence asks jury to reject key crown evidence in Windsor murder trial

Closing arguments were made in the Brian Marbury murder trial. Michelle Maluske reports. Warning: Graphic

Warning: Contains graphic content.

Closing arguments were heard Monday in the trial of Brian Marbury, 47, in the death of his wife Sahra Bulle, 36.

Defence lawyer Ken Marley asked the jury of 14 people to seriously question the testimony of Fartumo Kusow (Bulle’s mother), Serah Hamid (auditory witness) and her husband Michael Scanlon (a second auditory witness).

On the evening of May 26, 2023, Bulle went to a motel on Huron Church Road rented by Marbury.

At the time, the couple was married, but the crown and Bulle’s mother says they were estranged.

Marley argued even that point, reminding the jury in the months before her death, the couple stayed together in Windsor motels nearly every weekend.

“Does that sound like estranged to you?” Marley asked the jurors.

Marley also recommended the jurors be careful in how much weight they give to Hamid and Scanlon, who were renting the room below Marbury and Bulle.

Around midnight Hamid and Scanlon testified about hearing an argument or noises from the room above them.

“She (Bulle) used a soft voice according to Ms. Hamid. She (Bulle) was screaming according to Mr. Scanlon,” Marley questioned. “How could they be so different?”

Neither, Marley reminded the jury, reported hearing Bulle begging to be allowed to leave the motel room.

“Nothing other than a party was planned,” Marley told the jury. “She went there voluntarily.”

He told the jurors to convict on first-degree murder, they had to be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that Marbury caused Bulle’s death, that he intended to do it and that it was either a planned and deliberate act or because of forcible confinement.

“You can’t speculate,” Marley told them. “I’m just asking you to consider other alternatives.”

Marley didn’t offer the jury an explanation for what happened in the motel room; Marbury doesn’t have to.

The “burden” of proof lies with the crown, the lawyer said.

Marley also recommended the jurors weigh the evidence of Bulle’s mother, Fartumo Kusow, “through a prism” of bias, as a grieving mother.

Marley believes Kusow didn’t have the full, true picture of her daughters’ relationship with Marbury.

“Frankly, what she is telling you in this trial, a lot of it just doesn’t make sense,” Marley said. “If you knew your child was being subjected to this pattern of abuse over time, surely you would do something about it.”

The jury has learned Kusow didn’t know when the couple got married, didn’t have a specific address and at times, would go months without talking to her daughter.

Marley said Kusow is “thinking guiltily about the things that she could have done, and she didn’t do and wanting someone to pay for what happened.”

Marley also reminded the jury Bulle used someone else’s passport to cross the border which left her unable to return to the United States.

And she told her mother she was seeking treatment for alcohol abuse, but the medical records don’t reflect that, Marley reminded the jury.

“You can’t ignore these things,” Marley said. “Please don’t.”

Closing arguments concluded mid-day Monday and Justice Ian Leach started his instructions – called a Jury Charge – late Monday afternoon.

That effort will take another day, the judge said, advising the jury they likely won’t begin deliberations until Wednesday.

They must reach a unanimous verdict, beyond a reasonable doubt.