Turning now to news from the court, 23 year-old Steven Gomez, the man who stood trial for the August 2014 killing of Unitedville resident, Victor Vargas has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. Trial judge Francis Cumberbatch has decided that he will spend 11 more years in prison.
The full sentence is 15 years, but the judge subtracted 4 years, due to the time spent on remand.
In August of 2014, in Unitedville, Vargas and Gomez got into a fist fight, and while they were struggling on the ground, Gomez pulled a knife and stabbed Vargas twice to the neck and the head. He ran down the street saying that Gomez was his attacker.
Initially, Joseph Vaccaro was jointly charged with murder along with Gomez, but he eventually became the main witness who testified against Gomez. He told the court that Gomez took away a cup from Vargas, urinated in it, and told Vargas to drink it. That’s when the fist fight started, and the scuffle quickly escalated to a stabbing death.
In his defense, Gomez told the court that they were indeed fighting, but he said that Vaccaro was the one who stabbed Vargas to death.
After reviewing all the evidence, Justice Cumberbatch found Gomez guilty, and today, she allowed him to bring 2 character witnesses to speak on his behalf. The judge also read an impact statement from Vargas’ common-law wife, who is the mother of his 4 children.
After consideration, the judge handed him that sentence that he must remain in jail for 11 more years.
Gomez was represented by attorney Oswald Twist, and the Crown was represented by Crown Counsel Portia Ferguson.
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