SARNIA – Aydive Martinez was out for a walk one day when she fainted.
Rescued by some passersby, the Sarnia woman was taken to a doctor, who told her there was nothing physically wrong with her.
“I know it’s because of the sadness,” she said in a statement read Monday in a Sarnia courtroom.
That sorrow is tied to the death of her son, Luis Hernandez. The 26-year-old former St. Clair high school and Lambton College student died on Jan. 9, 2021, following what Sarnia police called a severe assault at a Confederation Street townhouse complex.
“He even said to me once, ‘Mom, I won’t leave you alone. I’ll always be here for you,’” Martinez said in her statement. “I still have everything of his – even his ashes. There’s not a single day that goes by that I don’t think of him and cry.”
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0114-so-homicide.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="526" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0114-so-homicide.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="701"/>Timothy Noj, a 34-year-old Sarnia resident, pleaded guilty in late March to manslaughter linked to Hernandez’s death. Through an agreed statement of facts, Noj admitted to slicing Hernandez’s throat with a knife amid a dispute over a drug debt.
Martinez’s statement was heard Monday during a hearing where lawyers on both sides argued what Noj’s sentence should be. Defence lawyer Neil Rooke suggested a suspended sentence and three years of probation or two months of house arrest combined with the 22 months of credit for pre-sentence custody. Assistant Crown attorney David Nicol asked for two more years in jail on top of the nearly two years he’s already served.
There is no minimum sentence for manslaughter in Canada, but it can reach life imprisonment. Justice Mark Hornblower will make his decision next month.
Rooke told Hornblower he wouldn’t have been able to ask for a suspended or conditional sentence in good faith earlier in the pre-trial process, but feels he’s able to do so now based on his client’s overwhelmingly successful turnaround.
Living a life of drug addiction and crime when he was arrested in January 2021, Noj has completely abstained from drugs and alcohol for the past 22 months and has even been able wean himself off opioid-replacement therapy medication. The Serpent River First Nation member, adopted by a Sarnia family when he was two-and-a-half years old, has embraced his culture, Christianity and counselling while diligently attending sobriety meetings and finishing his high school diploma.
The about-face was well underway by this past January, when Noj was sentenced to 39 days in jail for a string of unrelated crimes linked to drug addiction issues. A key driver in his ongoing sobriety, Rooke said, is his client’s remorse for what he did to his friend while they were intoxicated that night. It’s something he thinks about all the time.
“It prevents him from sleeping some nights,” Rooke said.
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0112-so-homicide-1.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="750" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0112-so-homicide-1.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="1000"/>Noj was released on $25,000 bail following his guilty plea in March and ordered to live with his parents, with whom he had a strained relationship before embracing sobriety, under strict house arrest with GPS tracking. Noj’s father, Walter, told the judge on Monday they were hopeful, but also anxious, to see how their son would react to being released to their custody.
They’ve been impressed by the changes he’s kept in place over the past seven months.
“The Tim that we see now is a different person,” he said.
Noj also addressed the court, saying he was truly sorry for his actions that night.
“If I could go back and change everything, I would. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child. I am so sorry for causing that pain,” he said. “Not only am I sorry, but I live that moment every day of my life. It will never leave me.”
He also told the judge he realizes there has to be justice.
“I am ready to accept the consequences for what I did,” he said.
Hornblower said it’s clear a great deal of progress has been made but still adjourned his decision to late November.
Hernandez, a native of Colombia who moved with his family to Sarnia in the early 2000s, and Noj were both at Noj’s girlfriend’s home inside the south Sarnia complex that Saturday. The trio was using fentanyl. Hernandez fell asleep, but was woken by the woman pleading for help as Noj had overdosed in a bathroom.
https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0112-so-homicide-6.jpg?quality="90&strip=all&w=576 2x" height="750" loading="lazy" src="https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/so.0112-so-homicide-6.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=288" width="1000"/>They put Noj in the bathtub and gave him three shots of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan while Hernandez hit him on the head multiple times. Noj was unconscious for several minutes but eventually woke up.
That’s when Hernandez became upset and accused Noj of stealing his drugs. Hernandez hit Noj with a baton multiple times while demanding Noj pay him back and then knocked him unconscious again with a pair of blows to the head.
After Noj woke up a second time, he called his stepfather and asked for some money to help repay the debt. In the meantime, Hernandez turned his attention to the woman. He made a call trying to recruit someone to beat her up to force repayment, but eventually decided to take matters into his own hands.
As he approached her in the main bedroom, Noj jumped on top of him from behind. The pair fell to the floor, smashing a shoe rack, while Noj grabbed a knife that was on the ground and swung it towards Hernandez.
It sliced his throat. The woman tried to help Hernandez amid the severe blood loss, calling police around 5:30 p.m. He was taken to hospital and pronounced dead 30 minutes later.
Noj, who hid in the basement as police arrived, was initially detained as a person of interest, and then taken to hospital for treatment for his injuries, but was released from custody later that night.
Following an extensive interview with the woman, however, police arrested Noj at a local motel three days later and charged him with second-degree murder. That charge was withdrawn after Noj pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Noj had a prior criminal record, including three months in jail in 2013 for dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
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