Watcheston found guilty of first degree murder

CALGARY – A man who stalked and raped a mother of five late on a cold winter night near a northeast C-Train stop was found guilty Tuesday of first-degree murder.

Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik convicted Christopher James Watcheston, 24, of the heinous crime in which he admitted kicking Arcelie Laoagan at least four times in the head after he sexually assaulted her.

"Based on the evidence: the LRT video, the items at the scene, the times of the phone calls, the experts’ description of the injuries, the state of undress of Mrs. Loaghan and the location of the assault in comparison to the victim’s home and the LRT station, the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt the accused had continuing illegal domination from the sexal assault to the murder", Eidsvik said.

Defence lawyers Alain Hepner and Rebecca Snukal had argued the sex assault and slaying were separated in time, thus making it second-degree murder.

Crown prosecutors Gord Wong and Chrstine Rideout said the defence theory was not believable and Watcheston should be found guilty of constructive first-degree murder, in which the victim was killed while the perpetrator was committing a serious personal crime.

"How likely is it that a woman who has just been raped and is half-naked, when extremely cold or freezing, would remain there and not dress herself if given the opportunity to leave, as the accused says?" Wong said at the conclusion of Watcheston’s trial last month.

"The conclusion is obvious. She is not able to do so. The irresistible conclusion is the murder is one transaction."

Wong said that with the connection of the sexual assault and kicking her in the head four times, the Crown has proven first-degree murder for the deadly event that occurred on Jan. 17, 2008, on a secluded path near the Franklin LRT station.

The events leading up to the murder were captured on surveillance video, Watcheston is seen in one eerie clip following Laoagan, 41, up the escalator just before they left the station.

The victim made a phone call to a friend at 11:01 p.m., saying she was being raped. In a second call, at 11:09 p.m., she is only mumbling, suggesting she has already been attacked. Court heard during trial she sustained blunt cranial trauma, a fractured upper jaw, broken nose and numerous cuts and bruises to her body.

According to the Criminal Code, when one commits a domination offence such as sexual assault or unlawful confinement, then kills, it is first-degree murder.

All murder convictions garner a life sentence. There is no parole of first-degree for 25 years and between 10 and 25 years without parole for second-degree.

Hepner had contended his client should be found guilty of only second-degree murder, as there is a distinct separation in time between the sex assault and slaying.

He also said his client never intended to kill Laoagan, who moved to Canada from the Philippines in 2004, until after he heard her on the phone, likely to police, following the sex assault.

Watcheston testified he decided then to kick her in the head so she would get a concussion and not remember what happened. He admitted he kicked her another three times, all with the bottom of his ironworker boots.

Watcheston also told court he mistook Laoagan for his dead mother, who looked strikingly similar in appearance, and an argument ensued. He said Laoagan then told him not to rape her and offered to give him oral sex instead.

He said he was then in a dissociative state, "watching myself outside my body, looking down" (as he raped her), because of smoking the hallucinatory drug salvia just before he got on the train.

He said he did not know what drove him to hit her repeatedly, but knew it was "wrong, big time wrong."

dslade@theherald.canwest.com