Calgary Journal Online

Christopher Watcheston, 24, was found guilty of first-degree murder by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik on Tuesday. The conviction comes with a life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

The court heard key details from Eidsvik as she re-caped the trial before handing down the sentence. Watcheston followed his victim Arcelie Laoagan, 41, to a pathway from the Franklin LRT station on Jan. 17, 2008. He raped and killed her underneath bushes on the poorly lit pathway, the judge said.

Christopher Watcheston was convicted of first-degree murder Tuesday by the Court of Queen's Bench for the rape and murder of Arcelie Laoagan. Photo: Shani Krammer/Calgary Journal

This was a non-jury trial because it wasn’t disputed that Watcheston had raped and killed Laoagan. The trial was for a judge to decide whether or not the rape-murder case was grounds for first- or second-degree murder.

Eidsvik said she didn't believe Watcheston's defence that he had kicked Laoagan in the head repeatedly with steel-toed boots, only to give her amnesia, and that he didn’t mean to kill her.

Eidsvik refuted part of Watcheston’s testimony saying that because of his intoxication on both alcohol and the hallucinogenic herb salvia, his memory had too many unclear events to be reliable. “Ultimately that’s what (Watcheston) was doing. Reconstructing memories,” Eidsvik said.

Watcheston testified at trial that he had followed his victim out of the LRT station because he was so intoxicated on salvia and alcohol he believed Laoagan was his murdered mother.

A surveillance video of the Franklin LRT station’s escalator, showing Watcheston stalking Laoagan out of the station, was presented during the trial. Eidsvik cited the video to show that Watcheston could climb stairs, walk, and ask for directions without appearing to be as intoxicated as he claimed to be.

Watcheston testified that after he sexually assaulted Laoagan, he yelled at her to put her pants on, and repeatedly told her to run away. The defence argued that this meant Watcheston stopped his illegal domination over the victim between the sexual assault and the killing, so he should be charged with second-degree murder.

Eidsvik said that the crown had convinced her beyond a reasonable doubt that Watcheston’s illegal domination of Laoagan hadn’t ceased between the sexual assault and the killing, and Watcheston was therefore guilty of first-degree murder.

During victim impact statements, Laoagan’s brother, Oswald Sambrito, spoke about how this tragedy has affected him and his family. “There are no words to describe the hollow emptiness inside…our lives are forever changed,” he said.

When talking about Laoagan’s five children, Sambrito’s voice caught. “How do you tell a child their mother will never come back again?”

Caroline Maximo, Laoagan’s sister who was still living in the Philippines when her sister was murdered, has since moved to Calgary and said at the trial that the distance made it even harder for her to learn of Laoagan’s death.

“I miss everything about her, it’s so painful because we never had a chance to say goodbye,” Maximo said.

After the victim impact statements were read Watcheston took his chance to speak to the court and specifically Laoagan’s family.

“I want to express to the deceased’s family how sincerely sorry I am. I not only tore her family apart but mine as well,” Watcheston said. “I do know that I will live with this sorrow forever.”