WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.
A trial is underway for the Langley, B.C., man accused of killing his wife in 2021 and dismembering her body.
Obnes Regis has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and interfering with human remains in the death of Naomi Onotera, a Surrey teacher-librarian.
“We are just relieved to finally start this process, and we just want to see the strongest justice for my sister delivered,” Onotera’s sister Kristen Kerr told Global News outside the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Monday.
“She was an amazing mother, she lived for her daughter, she would do anything for her, and that’s one of the hardest parts is knowing she won’t get to do that.”
Regis’ trial is scheduled to last four weeks, but in an unexpected announcement, the Crown said Monday it planned to call just two witnesses. One of those witnesses was a DNA expert who took the stand Monday.
Disturbing crime
Onotera’s mother reported her missing on Aug. 29, 2021, and she was last seen leaving her home a day earlier. Regis was arrested in December of that year.
In pre-trial evidence obtained by Global News, Regis told the Langley RCMP he got into an argument with his wife over when to put their two-year-old daughter to bed in August 2021.
“When I hit her, she fell down,” he told police in a videotaped interview. “A big loss, big loss, it’s hard. A big loss.”
According to an admission of facts, Regis told undercover officers he used a handsaw to cut Onotera’s bones before putting them into plastic grocery bags.
Regis then used public transit and taxis to travel with his young daughter to Fort Langley, where he threw the bones in the river and some landed in the bushes, according to the document.
During an extensive search of the family’s property, police discovered two knives which were allegedly used to cut up the body, according to the evidence.
Investigators said they also seized a mitre saw with black human hair and human biological material inside the blade.
Onotera’s family said they are hoping for a conviction and a strong sentence.
“She was an amazing sister, we talked often and she loved her friends,” Kerr said.
“She was very kind and caring and she loved her school kids. She was an amazing teacher, she put so much effort into everything she did.”
It remains unclear whether Regis will testify in his own defence. The defence has yet to lay out its theory of what happened.
— with files from Rumina Daya
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