At Obnes Regis’ sentencing hearing, which began on Monday, June 17, ten family members gave victim impact statements.
Prosecutors are seeking a 19-year sentence for O’Ness Regis, a Langley man convicted of murdering his wife, who also admitted to dismembering her and dumping parts of her body in the Fraser River near Fort Langley.
The sentencing hearing began in New Westminster on Monday, June 17, and included victim impact statements from ten family members and friends of Naomi Onotera.
Crown attorney Crichton Pike is seeking 14 years in prison for manslaughter and five years for indignity to a human body, the maximum sentence that can be sought for that offence.
In August 2021, when Onodera’s family was unable to contact her, she was reported missing and a search and investigation was first launched by police, before being taken over by IHIT.
Reyes previously admitted in court through his lawyer to striking Onotela with “one blow” to the head, which is similar to a confession he made during police questioning after his December 2021 arrest.
Prosecutors also examined details Reyes provided as part of Operation “Mr. Big,” in which undercover officers befriended him and had him reenact parts of the killings and body disposal.
Pike read excerpts from a recorded conversation Regis had with an undercover officer in which Regis admitted to punching Onotela in the bathroom of his Langley home, then leaving him on the bathroom floor for about an hour while he was still breathing and waiting to die.
“That was a big punch,” Regis said in the recording.
During most of that time, her daughter was in her playpen next to her in the bathroom.
He decided not to call 911 or take her to the hospital because he thought it would cause more problems, Pike said.
During the change of guilty plea at trial, the court heard Regis told undercover officers he dumped parts of his wife’s body along the Fort to Fort Trail in Fort Langley and in the Fraser River.
Both the prosecution and defense agreed that Reyes deserved the maximum sentence for desecrating a human body, and with that in mind, Pike declined to go into graphic details about the actions Reyes took to dispose of his wife’s body.
But the details, he noted, were “horrific, brutal and monstrous.”
Pike also told Judge Martha Devlin that on the spectrum of manslaughter charges, Regis’s actions were very close to murder, the most serious of the manslaughter offences, and so warranted a longer than average sentence.
Family members expressed sadness, fear and anger at Regis, who Naomi called “Reg” before her death.
“My sister’s murder is a grief I will never recover from,” her sister, Kirsten Carr, said.
She spoke about Naomi’s daughter, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, who was only 18 months old when her mother went missing.
The court was told the child would wake up in the middle of the night wondering where his mother was.
“Reg, I will never forgive you in my heart. Every breath you take is a wasted breath,” Carr said.
Onotela’s mother, Maureen, said she and Naomi spoke almost every day.
“We never thought we’d be spending the last year of her life without her,” Maureen said.
Her father, Larry, died in December last year without seeing the outcome of the trial. Regis chose to stand trial and then pleaded guilty midway through the process.
“Naomi was more than my daughter. She was my best friend. I get through each day since she was taken from me, but the joy has been taken from my life,” Maureen said.
Other family members who read victim impact statements included nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and longtime friends. Several were in tears as they spoke, and many in the courtroom gallery were crying as were those listening.
Relatives described feeling not only sadness but also depression and anxiety, with some of Naomi’s relatives fearing that Regis might hurt or take their young daughter away.
They all said Naomi’s child would grow up without a mother.
Although Regis has lived in Canada for 21 years, he does not have permanent residency and will likely be deported to his native Haiti once he has served his sentence, Pike said.
Sentencing was scheduled for Monday, June 17 through Wednesday, June 19. The defense was scheduled to make a sentencing recommendation following the prosecution’s ruling, which will be made after print time and is expected to be reported in the coming days.