B.C. man who killed 3 family members to spend life behind bars, no parole for 15 years
A Langley man who killed his brother, his mother and his mother’s partner more than two years ago has been sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole for 15 years.
Kia Ebrahimian, 27, appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster on Monday, dressed in a red sweater. He stood up as Justice Murray Blok read his sentence aloud, but did not react.
Blok described his crimes as “bloody,” “brutal” and “heartless.”
Ebrahimian pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in October for the June 13, 2020 killings of his 23-year-old brother, Befrin, his 50-year-old mother, Tatiana Bazyar, and 46-year-old Francesco Zangrilli. Their bodies were found by emergency crews responding to a house fire.
In addition to prison, Ebrahimian faces a lifetime ban on owning firearms and will have samples of his DNA taken. If the Correctional Service of Canada deems it necessary, Blok added, Ebrahimian will serve his sentence in a hospital setting, due to his psychiatric care needs.
Life imprisonment is the mandatory minimum for first- and second-degree murder in Canada, but parole can range between 10 and 25 years. Prosecutors and defence lawyers jointly proposed 15.
Blok waited until he had received Crown submissions, a psychiatric assessment and a pre-sentence report before revealing Ebrahimian’s fate. He noted substantial mitigating factors in his decision, including guilty pleas on all three counts that saved witnesses from further trauma.
Ebrahimian sat hunched over as Blok read out a statement of facts. He sometimes rocked back and forth, while friends and family of his victims cried in the public gallery.
Some made impassioned victim impact statements before the court. Ebrahimian listened but did not speak.
Befrin’s girlfriend, Kiko Kung, described trying unsuccessfully to reach him on the day of the murder, and arriving to find the house ablaze. Her life has been “upside down” since he died, she said on Friday.
“I feel like a part of me is missing,” Kung said through tears. “When I met Befrin, I finally felt safe being myself … With him, I didn’t have to pretend to be somebody else.”
A childhood friend of Befrin’s also spoke in court, describing him as kind, loving and brave.
“I’m so grateful that Befrin had Kiko. He got to experience true love,” Anna Whiteman said Friday.
“No length of time will be able to erase the sadness we’ll all live with for the rest of our lives.”
Crown prosecutor Michael Fortino has told the hearing that a feud with Ebrahimian’s brother Befrin, who was transgender, escalated when Ebrahimian moved back into his mother’s home in 2020.
Ebrahimian had anti-trans views, had made threats to Befrin, and had argued with his parents about being asked to move out of the home while Befrin could stay, Fortino told the court.
Days before the murders, Zangrilli and Bazyar had stayed home from work out of concern Ebrahimian might hurt his brother.
However, the Crown said there was not enough evidence to make the case beyond a reasonable doubt that the killing was a hate crime motivated by Befrin being transgender.
Fortino said Zangrilli had phoned Langley RCMP around 5:30 p.m. the day of the killings, and could be heard saying, “I’m sorry, Kia! Enough, enough!”
Ebrahimian then murdered the trio in “chilling and brutal circumstances,” motivated by “anger and resentment,” Fortino said.
Zangrilli died of 15 sharp-force injuries, while Befrin died of 27 sharp-force injuries, the court heard.
After killing the family, Ebrahimian got gasoline from the garage and set the home on fire before retreating to his own bedroom, the court heard. Three neighbours rescued him with a ladder, and when they asked him if anyone else was in the house, he said no.
Fortino also told the court Ebrahimian was “not truthful” to police, telling investigators he heard a bang at the house and saw smoke when he went to check on it but returned to his bedroom.
RCMP found two knives, one of them blood-stained, concealed under his clothing while he was in custody for questioning, the court heard.
The Crown said that by all accounts, Ebrahimian was acting rationally at the time of the murders. He does, however, have longstanding mental health issues including depression, and was subsequently diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Ebrahimian has also attempted suicide more than once since the murders and requires ongoing psychiatric treatment.
Defence lawyer Donna Turko agreed with Crown’s summation of the facts, adding that Ebrahimian has written an apology, but will not be reading it to the court due to his mental health.
“When there is mental illness, blameworthiness is very ill-fitting,” she said, adding that Ebrahimian feels terrible about what happened.
“He lives in a very painful existence.”
Ebrahimian was 24 at the time of the murders and worked at Dollarama. He had no prior criminal history.
– With files from Kristen Robinson, Simon Little and Darrian Matassa-Fung
by Global News
