The sentencing for a Langley man who killed his mother, brother and stepfather before setting their home on fire got underway in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster Friday.
After initially pleading not guilty to three counts of second-degree murder, Kia Ebrahimian changed his plea to guilty part-way through his trial in October.
Crown counsel and the defence have filed a joint submission asking for a life-sentence with no chance of parole for 15 years
Ebrahimian’s 23-year-old brother, Befrin Ebrahimian; his 50-year-old mother, Tatiana Bazyar; and Bazyar’s common-law partner, 46-year-old Francesco Zangrilli were found dead after emergency crews responded to fire at the family’s home on Wakefield Drive in June 2020.
Kia Ebrahimian, who was then 24 years old, had been living at the property with the three victims.
First responders found Zangrilli outside the home, and later found Befrin and Bazyar inside.
Homicide investigators quickly identified Ebrahimian as a suspect in the murders and house fire, and he was arrested and charged in July 2020.
Crown prosecutor Michael Fortino told the court Friday that a police officer found a knife covered in blood in Ebrahimian’s pocket after he was taken to the Langley RCMP detachment.
Fortino said Ebrahimian has since been diagnosed with Schizophrenia, but a doctor deemed that he still would have had the mental capacity to understand what he was doing.
Ebrahimian, who had been in custody since his arrest, has reportedly tried to commit suicide multiple times.
It was also revealed that Ebrahimian had serious issues with Befrin, who was a transgender man. Crown said it couldn’t be deemed as a hate crime but an aggravating factor.
Fortino and Ebrahimian’s lawyer, Donna Turko, both talked about how he is a self-described “loner” who had long-struggled to integrate into society. They said he had dropped out of school and worked a few jobs.
The prosecutor said that Ebrahimian told a doctor that on the day of the killings, he got into a verbal fight with his mom, and when Zangrilli interjected and called the non-emergency police line, he unleashed on him, stabbing him repeatedly before attacking his mom and brother.
He then doused the home with gasoline and lit it on fire.
Several people delivered victim impacts statements, including Befrin’s Girlfriend, Kiko Kung, who said she drove the house the day of the killings after Befrin stopped responding to text messages.
“I could feel my whole world crashing down when I understood what that fire meant,” she said, fighting through tears.
“Nowadays I constantly feel anxious at the thought of fire or my friends or family dying as suddenly as Bef did … I don’t feel safe or secure in building relationships with people because I’m worried will just be taken away as soon as I’m happy,”
Dressed in a red jumpsuit, Ebrahimian, who sat slouched over in the prisoner’s box, declined to address the court.
Justice Murray Blok is expected to deliver the sentence on Monday.
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Andrew Weichel
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