Man convicted of killing aunt in North Vancouver apartment

Anthony Santos Del Rosario has been sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for the brutal murder of his aunt in her North Vancouver apartment.

Justice Warren Milman delivered his decision in the British Columbia Supreme Court on Thursday morning.

Del Rosario, 48, was initially charged with second-degree murder after killing Dominga Santos on the morning of Dec. 13, 2022, in a third-floor apartment in the 200 block of West Third Street.

Del Rosario had initially pleaded not guilty. After a psychiatric evaluation, experts determined that Del Rosario was in a state of methamphetamine-induced psychosis at the time of the killing and his charge was reduced to involuntary manslaughter, to which he pleaded guilty on April 25.

History of drug use

In recounting the events in his life that led to his aunt's murder, Milman described a history of drug use that began with Del Rosario first using crystal methamphetamine while studying nursing in the Philippines before immigrating to Canada in 1997.

After settling in North Vancouver, he had several relationships with women who later said Del Rosario acted erratically when high and was sometimes aggressive, court heard.

In 2009, he climbed onto the roof of his aunt's house and threatened to commit suicide. He was arrested and taken to hospital.

After that incident, he returned to the Philippines for treatment. That led to a period of abstinence that lasted more than a decade, Milman said.

But after being offered methamphetamine by chance in September 2022, his drug use escalated again and he began hallucinating. On December 7, 2022, he was arrested and committed under the Mental Health Act after he was seen punching people and jumping on cars near the Northshore Auto Mall, the court heard.

Five days later, Del Rosario was smoking methamphetamine in his car and was arrested again for disturbing the peace at the McDonald's on Westview Drive. After spending time in cells at the North Vancouver RCMP detachment, where officers observed him acting strangely, he was released when they believed he was sober.

He then called his aunt to ask if he could stay at her house. She agreed and set up a place for him to sleep on the floor. Once there, he reported feeling the “presence of the undead” but eventually fell asleep.

According to Del Rosario's conversations with psychiatrists, he claimed to have seen what he thought was the devil, a snake or a ghost that was trying to kill him or suck his blood. He began to fight with it, but said at one point he realized it was his 68-year-old aunt, he told the court.

Neighbors called 911 to report strange noises coming from the apartment. Officers found Santos in a pool of blood in her kitchen, with Del Rosario on top of her.

Police arrested Del Rosario and he was taken to Lions Gate Hospital, where traces of methamphetamine were found in his urine, Milman said.

Del Rosario asked police to prepare paperwork for his own cremation because he had killed his aunt, the court heard.

Prior drug use does not suggest defendant was capable of brutal murder, judge says

Psychiatrists concluded that Del Rosario was likely suffering from methamphetamine-induced psychosis at the time of the crime, which likely led him to believe he was defending himself from being killed, Milman acknowledged in court.

For his crime of manslaughter, the Crown asked for 10 years in prison, noting the brutality of the murder and Del Rosario's choice to use methamphetamine, despite the negative impacts it had on his life in the past.

But the defense said Del Rosario should serve five to six years, arguing there was no clear motive and that the defendant could not have foreseen the seriousness of his actions given his past drug use.

Milman said the brutality of the attack was a factor in his decision.

“The deceased appears to have suffered terribly before she died. In her agony, she begged Mr. Del Rosario to stop what he was doing because she was afraid she would die,” he said.

Santos was also a vulnerable victim who trusted Del Rosario and took him in when no one else did, Milman said.

“She paid the ultimate price for her generosity to him,” he said.

A mitigating factor was Del Rosario's sincere remorse for his actions, which included a promise to never do drugs again.

“He had little reason to believe that this relapse would result in the type of behavior that ultimately occurred, for which there was really no precedent or warning,” Milman said. “His previous hallucinations and even his episodes of aggression did not suggest that he was capable of anything like what he did on December 13, 2022.”

Del Rosario has been in custody since his arrest in 2022. After receiving credit for time served, he is expected to serve an additional six years and two months.