On the opening day of a high-profile Ontario murder trial, the Crown alleged the accused had enlisted the help of the father of her child to dispose of a body which was eventually found in a suitcase.
Carita Jackson is on trial for the alleged second-degree murder of Varsha Gajula, a Caledon woman, whose body was found in a suitcase in Toronto during the summer of 2021.
In his opening address to the jury, assistant Crown attorney Scott Frost said police received a call about a suspicious suitcase that was located at the back of a business at 1530 Keele Street on Aug. 25, 2021. When officers arrived, they found Gajula’s body stuffed inside the suitcase.
An autopsy revealed the 41-year-old woman died from head and neck injuries, with signs of blunt force trauma and multiple stab wounds.
Frost said that after Toronto police officers conducted an extensive video canvass, they were led to an apartment building at 101 Humber Blvd South, less than two kilometres from where the suitcase was found.
The Crown alleged that two days prior to the discovery of the body, two tenants removed the suitcase from the building on Humber Boulevard.
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Frost said a man named Andre Bartley took the suitcase to a nearby Value Village before another man, Christopher Daley, picked it up from the Value Village and walked it to the business on Keele Street next to a dumpster where the suitcase was ultimately discovered.
The Crown told jurors that Daley, one of the two men, will be one of several witnesses to testify.
“You will hear about his involvement in disposing of the suitcase and that he enlisted the help of Bartley to unknowingly assist with the disposal,” Frost said. “It is the Crown’s theory, Jackson killed Gajula, left the apartment building the next day to escape detection while Daley coordinated the cleanup.”
Frost also said Daley shared a child with Jackson and in the months leading up to Garjula’s murder, Daley had been convicted of assaulting Jackson and had a no-contact order with her.
“You will hear Daley is no stranger to the criminal justice system. For his role in disposing of the body, Daley pled guilty and was convicted of accessory after the fact,” Frost told jurors.
Frost said on the morning of Aug. 21, Gajula was seen being dropped off at 101 Humber Blvd. Gajula was a frequent visitor to the building and was let in by another tenant. Jackson lived in apartment 1402. She arrived home before 10 a.m. that day and Gajula was already in the building.
Frost said video surveillance from the building will show Gajula was last seen getting off the elevator on the 14th floor turning left at approximately 2:17 p.m. Jackson was seen that day on video getting off the elevator on the 14th floor, and also turning left.
“Jackson was not seen again on video until the following morning when she left the building on a bicycle with Christopher Daley,” said Frost.
Frost told jurors that, after executing a search warrant in Jackson’s 14th-floor apartment, blood was detected on the floors, cabinets and walls. The jury is expected to hear DNA profiles generated using swabs taken from the apartment will show that it is likely Gajula’s.
Jackson was arrested on Aug. 30, 2021, five days after her body was discovered in the suitcase.
The first witness to take the stand was Det. Const. Jennifer Taborski from the Toronto police’s homicide unit.
The jury saw video surveillance including video of the civilians who discovered the suitcase, the movements of Daley and Bartley, and Gajula arriving at the Humber Blvd. building on the day she was last seen.
The jury has not heard how or if Jackson and Gajula knew one another.
Jackson has pleaded not guilty.
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