Two men have been found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of a Toronto mother during a break-and-enter in 2018.
Yostin Murillo and David Beak, who were 22 and 23 years old at the time of their arrests, were also found guilty of sexual assault.
Rhoderie Estrada, a 41-year-old registered nurse and mother of three, was killed when they broke into her Torrens Avenue home in East York in May 2018.
Crown prosecutor Beverley Richards previously said the two men were strangers to Estrada.
She told the jury they committed the vicious beating and sexual assault during a break-and-enter.
Murillo and Beak, who have been in custody since days after the murder when they were arrested, had both pleaded not guilty.
A first-degree murder conviction carries with it an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Gregory Leslie, one of two lawyers for Beak, reacted to the verdict outside of the University Avenue courthouse Saturday. Beak argued on the stand that he was not responsible for the murder, but did participate in the sexual assault.
“Reading into the verdict, we’d have to believe that the jury accepted that when they broke into the house, that at some point it became a sexual offence which led to a murder and that the sexual assault was a component to the murder, so it was a sexual murder,” Leslie said.
“This could have happened to any body, any house, any family. And that’s what’s truly scary about this case.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for next month, at which time victim impact statements will be delivered.
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