Kingston, Ont. man serving life sentence in wife’s murder dies in prison: CSC

An Ontario man found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his estranged wife has died in prison, Correctional Service Canada says.

Stephen Beszterczey, a 47-year-old from Kingston, was serving a life sentence after being found guilty of the murder of Carolin Beszterczey in 2015.

A release from the CSC sent to media Tuesday says Stephen Beszterczey died at Bath Institution Saturday.

Carolin, 48, was found dead inside her Trenton apartment in September 2012.

At the time police said she’d been sexually assaulted and strangled to death with a cord or small electrical wire inside the apartment she’d rented after splitting up with Stephen and moving out of the couple’s home.

At the time of her death, Stephen was under a court order not to have any contact with his estranged wife, a condition of his release after he damaged her truck.

During his trial, the prosecution called Carolin’s death a case of domestic homicide, telling the jury she was “afraid of him” as their marriage was falling apart.

The defence didn’t deny Stephen killed his wife, but claimed he didn’t remember doing it and that he suffered from a severe mental illness that left him incapable of forming criminal intent.

An 11-member jury delivered their guilty verdict after 24 hours of deliberations following four weeks of testimony.

Stephen’s cause of death was not been released and a CSC spokesperson said further information was not available.

As in all cases involving the death of an inmate, CSC will review the circumstances.