Robotti convicted of murder
EDITOR’S NOTE: Between now and Dec. 29, The Daily Courier will count down the year’s biggest stories in the Central Okanagan, as chosen by the editorial department.
Penticton resident Grace Robotti was sentenced to life in prison in April for murdering the mother of her great-grandson.
Robotti, 67, was charged with second-degree murder in the January 2015 death of Roxanne Louie, a 26-year-old member of the Osoyoos Indian Band.
Robotti admitted to killing Louie by hitting her in the head repeatedly with a crowbar, but pleaded not guilty to murder.
She did plead guilty to interference with a dead body.
The trial was moved to Kelowna because of security concerns at the Penticton courthouse.
On April 6, after a full day of deliberations, the jury found Robotti guilty of second-degree murder.
Less than two weeks later, Justice Dev Dley sentenced Robotti to life in prison, the mandatory sentence for second-degree murder, with eligibility for parole in 10 years.
Robotti’s brother Pier Robotti was also charged in the murder.
He waived his right to be tried by a jury and appeared before a judge alone on March 6.
Pier, 63, pleaded guilty to interference with a dead body and Crown counsel stayed the second-degree murder charge against him.
Dley sentenced both Grace and Pier to 27 months in jail, minus three months credit for time served, for the charges of interference with a dead body.
Grace Robotti is serving her two-year sentence concurrently with her life sentence.
Sometime after midnight on Jan. 4, 2015, Louie and Robotti got into an argument concerning the care of Louie’s young son.
The argument took place in Robotti’s home, where Louie and her son had been staying during the holiday season.
Louie threw a small crowbar in Robotti’s direction, hitting the wall a couple of feet away.
She then picked up the crowbar off the floor, prompting Robotti to grab her arm in an effort to get the crowbar away from her.
During the fight, Pier arrived at the residence.
After putting Louie’s son back to bed, he saw Louie was on top of Grace Robotti on the floor, with the crowbar in her hand.
Pier pulled Louie off Robotti, threw her onto the floor and tried to subdue her by pinning her to the floor.
Grace pried Louie’s fingers apart and picked the crowbar up after it fell to the ground and struck Louie in the head with it about 26 times.
A pathologist testified at least a dozen blows were delivered to Louie’s head while she was either immobile or unconscious.
The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma.
Robotti testified that she did not mean to kill Louie, she only wanted Louie to stop fighting.
Following the killing, Robotti instructed her brother to remove Louie’s body.
She gave him the keys to her car and he drove the body out to a wooded area near Naramata, where he pushed Louie down a steep embankment.