CALGARY — A judge has found a man guilty of first-degree murder for stalking a woman who had just got off a transit train, raping her on a dark path and then beating her to death when he thought she was calling for help.
Christopher Watcheston admitted that he sexually assaulted and physically battered Arcelie Laoagan on a cold night in January 2008, but said he didn’t intend for her to die — he just wanted to stop her from contacting police.
Prosecutor Gord Wong had argued that Watcheston killed Laoagan in the commission of a sexual assault, which under Canadian law meant he was guilty of first-degree murder.
But defence lawyer Alain Hepner countered that there was a time gap between when Watcheston raped Laoagan and when he attacked her, so his client could only be convicted of second-degree murder.
Justice Kristine Eidsvik said Tuesday that the Crown had proven that the rape and the murder were committed together. She also pointed out that the position of Laoagan’s body and the proximity to her home showed that there wasn’t enough time between the two acts for her to run away.
Surveillance video captured Watcheston at three different light-rail train stations in downtown Calgary, including the one where Laoagan stepped on board shortly after 10 p.m.
She was heading home from her night shift at a printing company, an extra job she worked because she wanted to make enough money to bring her husband and five children from the Philippines to Canada.
Cameras also caught the pair walking up an escalator at Laoagan’s stop. Watcheston is seen walking just a step behind the small woman from the train to the station door. His hood is pulled tight and low, partially obscuring his face.
Watcheston testified that he was so drunk and high on a hallucinogenic drug that he initially thought Laoagan was his mother, who was murdered in the early 1990s. He said he called out to her and didn’t realize his mistake until they were alone together on a path running behind a church.
He said the 41-year-old woman started shaking and begged him not to rape her, but he ordered her to take off her pants. He then started to sexually assault her but said he felt like he was floating above the scene and away from his body.
He described several minutes passing before he realized the rape was wrong and pulled away. He said he then told Laoagan to run, but minutes later noticed her on the phone and thought she was calling 911.
Watcheston told court he decided at that point that kicking her in the head with his steel-toed work boots would cause her to forget the assault.
Court heard Laoagan was in fact on the phone frantically describing the attack to a friend, who relayed the information to police. The friend had said Laoagan was being beaten and raped, and he could hear a male voice in the background as she pleaded with him.
Officers testified they rushed out to find her, but her friend believed the call for help came from near her work downtown. They described how they checked every car and dumpster in the area, but couldn’t find any trace of her.
It’s not known how long Laoagan lay dying alone in the snow.
One young woman testified she saw Laoagan shortly after midnight when the woman snuck out to take cocaine. But she didn’t report it until two days later because she didn’t want to tell her Narcotics Anonymous sponsor she was back on drugs.
Another woman on her way to work called police at 5 a.m. when she found Laoagan’s body lying in the snow.
A doctor testified the victim’s head was so badly injured in the attack that her brain could no longer function.
Laoagan’s random death terrified the city’s transit riders and police warned women to travel in groups at night and stay in well-lit areas.