Naomi Onotera case: Husband sentenced to 16 years for manslaughter

Warning: This story contains disturbing details.

The B.C. man who pleaded guilty in the death of his wife – Langley teacher-librarian Naomi Onotera – has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

With credit for the time he has already spent in custody, Obnes Regis will have an additional 12 years, one month and 17 days to serve.

Regis initially pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and indignity to human remains, but changed his plea to guilty after his trial began in May.

In imposing the sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Martha M. Devlin noted the need to demonstrate that intimate partner violence “will not be tolerated by law-abiding members of society.”

Regis was sentenced to 11 years for the manslaughter charge and five for indignity to remains.

During the trial, the court heard that Regis killed Onotera with a single punch to the head during an argument in the couple’s home. He then dismembered her body and disposed of her remains along the bank of the Fraser River in Fort Langley.

Regis told undercover officers this in December 2021, several months after Onotera was reported missing by family members in August of that year.

He would repeat that confession to RCMP officers during an interrogation days later, telling police his daughter had witnessed the argument and assault that led to Onotera’s death, and accompanied him when he scattered his wife’s remains.

Despite these admissions, Regis initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, before abruptly changing his plea mid-trial, after Crown had finished presenting its case.

Devlin described these circumstances surrounding the offence as “immensely grave.”

“Intimate partner violence is deplorable conduct,” the judge said. “The sober and calculated decision by Mr. Regis not to seek assistance while Naomi lay gasping for breath on the floor with her young child in the vicinity is particularly egregious. Further aggravating is the months-long deception perpetrated by Mr. Regis.”

Regis addressed the court in a statement read by one of his lawyers during the sentencing hearing last month. He said he was “really, really sorry” and never intended for Onotera to die. He also addressed the couple’s daughter, who was just 18 months old at the time of the killing, saying he had “failed” her as a father.

As the lawyer began reading the statement, Onotera’s sister Kirsten Kerr stood up and abruptly walked out of the courtroom.

On Tuesday, Kerr was one of many family members present for the sentencing. She told CTV News the decision “wasn’t enough.”

“We just wanted more,” Kerr said. “I don’t feel like justice was served for her.”

She said the family’s primary focus right now is on protecting Onotera’s daughter.

“It will haunt us, always,” Kerr said. “My family, my kids, her daughter, eventually. I don’t find much closure in it. I just wish the sentence had been longer.”

Originally from Haiti, Regis arrived in Canada on a student visa in 2003. That visa has since expired, and he has been the subject of a removal order since his application for permanent residency on humanitarian grounds was denied in 2015.

He has been able to remain in Canada since then because of an “administrative deferral of removals” put in place by the federal government after the 2016 earthquake in Haiti.

It is not clear if he and Onotera sought a change in his immigration status after they were married and prior to her death.

While the administrative deferral of removals remains in place, Regis is likely to be deported when his sentence expires because of his conviction, according to Devlin’s decision.

Kerr said she hopes he will be deported when he gets out.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Ben Miljure