2 Ecuadoreans get life sentence for murder of Pinay helper

Two Ecuadorian nationals were sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty for the murder of a Filipino maid in Toronto, Canada in Oct. 1. 2007, a report said yesterday.

Jocelyn Dulnuan, 27, was strangled with a thin braided copper wire that was wrapped twice around her neck and tied tightly with a knot at her throat. Her left hand was also bound with the same wire while her feet were bound with a sweater.

Found guilty were Cristian Figueroa, 37, and Fabian Loayza-Penaloza, 40, Canada ’s The Star said. Both men pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.

Justice John Sproat told jurors the verdict was “very well justified” based on the evidence presented during the month-long trial.

The murder convicts each testified and blamed the other as the lone killer of Dulnuan who works in a Mississauga mansion. They admitted they went to the 30,000square-foot mansion that day to commit a burglary but insisted they never harmed the Filipino.

The victim’s employer found Dulnuan dead and lying on her back on her bedroom floor behind a closed door when she arrived home after work at 5 p.m.

The maid’s slaying was one of Greater Toronto’s highest-profiled cases of the year and was covered by every television station and newspaper. Michaela P. del Callar, Daily Tribune