A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter and accessory after the fact to murder in the killing of New Westminster resident Ma Cecilia Loreto, whose body was found burning in a Burnaby park one year ago.
Carlo Castillo Tobias and a 15-year-old who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act were originally charged with first degree murder and indignity to human remains after Loreto’s body was found in Greentree Village Park in the early morning hours of March 18, 2021.
On Tuesday, however, Tobias pleaded guilty to manslaughter and acting as an accessory after the fact to murder instead.
In a joint sentencing submission, Crown prosecutor Jay Fogel and defence lawyer Mathew Nathanson called for a 10-year prison sentence, meaning Tobias would have eight-and-a-half years left to serve.
Loreto was killed inside her New Westminster home, according to an agreed statement of facts read out in court by Fogel.
Tobias and the youth had lain in wait for Loreto to return from work at about 3 p.m. on the afternoon of March 17, 2021, Fogel said.
Tobias stepped out from behind a door he was hiding behind and punched 49-year-old Loreto in the face, knocking her unconscious, but Loreto was still alive, according to the facts.
The teen, who will be tried separately, then stabbed Loreto twice with a kitchen knife, according to the facts.
Tobias had not seen the knife prior to the stabbing, Fogel said.
Tobias and the youth, who were known to each other and to Loreto, then wrapped her body up with blankets and tape.
Equipped with a jerry can of gasoline and black spray paint to disguise Loreto’s Honda Civic, which had distinctive red rims, they then drove the body to the Burnaby park, according to the facts.
They arrived at about midnight, unloaded Loreto’s body, poured gasoline on it and set it on fire, Fogel said.
Because the fire severely burned the body, a pathologist who conducted a post-mortem examination was “unable to determine a definitive cause of death,” according to the facts, but the examination did confirm Loreto was dead before her body was burned.
After setting the fire, Tobias and the teen then changed their clothes, drove back to Loreto’s home and tried to clean up the blood, according to the facts.
Police located Loreto’s body in the park just after 2 a.m. on March 18, 2021 after a nearby resident reported the fire, Fogel said.
Four days later, Tobias confessed to his family, according to the facts, and on March 23, 2018, he turned himself in to Richmond RCMP.
Fogel said the fact that Loreto had been killed inside her own home and that the fire had resulted in “massive disfiguration” of her body were aggravating circumstances in the case.
But he also noted Tobias had entered an early guilty plea and had no criminal history.
Nathanson added Tobias has shown remorse and taken responsibility for his actions, turning himself in to police and providing a “full confession.”
Nathanson also pointed to Tobias’s personal circumstances, noting he is still a young man with a supportive family and, therefore, a good candidate for rehabilitation.
Judge Peter La Prairie accepted the joint submission and sentenced Tobias to eight-and-a-half more years in prison.
He also imposed a DNA order and a 10-year weapons ban.
La Prairie described Loreto’s killing as “a senseless crime.”
“Words cannot describe the loss they have suffered and continue to suffer,” he said.
Loreto’s mother, brother, three sisters and niece provided victim impact statements that spoke of a family torn apart by the sudden loss of a woman described by her brother, Armand, as an “understanding sister, hardworking parent, responsible mother, trusted friend and a loving daughter to her mother.”
“Since Maricel is gone, there is no passing day that we do not feel the emptiness in our home,” Armand said. “Our family has been destroyed; our dreams have been shattered and the future looks so bleak.”
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