WARNING: Details in this story are disturbing. Discretion is advised.
The sentencing hearing for a Langley, B.C., man who killed and dismembered his wife has heard a statement from the accused.
“I am really, really sorry and I apologize with the worst remorse and regret I can express for what I did to Naomi,” Obnes Regis’ counsel read aloud on behalf of his client on Tuesday.
“I was so, so, so, very wrong, and I can’t take back what I did.”
Regis, 52, viciously assaulted his wife in August 2021, Naomi Onotera, then watched her slowly die before dismembering and disposing of her remains.
He previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and interfering with human remains.
Onotera’s sister, Kristen Kerr stormed out of the court as the opening lines were read.
In the statement, Regis addressed him and Onotera’s young daughter directly.
“I have failed you as a father,” the statement read.
“It is my biggest regret and shame that I have caused you to grow up without your mother.”
On Monday, the court heard that Regis had been ordered deported to Haiti multiple times since 2011. He is set to be deported after he has served his sentence in Canada.
Crown said Regis is an “expert liar”, saying he “convincingly lied to police from his very first contact with them” adding Regis also lied to Onotera’s mother in the hours after she first vanished.
“His actions were so beyond societal norms that some of them are still unimaginable,” Crown said.
The judge will hand down her sentence in July.