WARNING: This story contains disturbing details. Reader discretion is advised.
A Langley, B.C., man accused of killing and dismembering his wife has now changed his plea.
Obnes Regis previously pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and interfering with human remains in the August 2021 death of Naomi Onotera, a Surrey teacher-librarian.
However, in a stunning change of plea on Friday morning, Regis’ lawyer advised the court that his client is now prepared to enter guilty pleas on both counts.
Onotera’s cause of death remains unknown, as Regis cut her body into pieces and disposed of it, according to an admission of undisputed facts entered at trial.
In pre-trial evidence obtained by Global News, Regis was recorded telling Langley RCMP he hit Onotera during an argument about 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.”
Gloria Ng, one of Regis’ lawyers, said on Friday that the guilty plea reflects that in Canada’s criminal justice system, everybody is entitled to a trial.
“Everybody’s entitled to hear and to see and to test the evidence that the prosecution is going to be presenting, in its case,” she said.
Outside court on Friday, Onotera’s sister Kristen Kerr said this whole process has been an emotional roller coaster.
“We’re just glad to hear a guilty plea and finally have an end to this trial and this process,” she said.
“And although nothing will bring my sister back, we’re anticipating and hoping for a lengthy sentence.”
Kerr said that even with this guilty plea, justice will never be served.
“My sister was an amazing person,” she said.
“She cared about everything. Everyone. She loved her friends. She loved her family. And her daughter was her everything.
“She loved her kids at school. She would always tell me how excited she was every year to go back and see her students. She was just an amazing person.”
-with files from Rumina Daya