Dad, sister testify at trial of man accused of killing mom
Father recounts arguments between his ex-wife, son
The father of a Richmond man accused of murdering his mother described the difficult relationship his son had with his family before the slaying.
Danilo Lescano, 66, told a jury Thursday that after he divorced his wife, Redelma Belissario, their son Darwin never had his own place, moving back and forth between parents.
The last time his son moved in with him was in late 2014, a few months before the May 2015 slaying, he said.
Under questioning from Crown counsel Kristin Bryson, Lescano said his son was lazy and messy and smoked in his room, leaving cigarette butts around.
He said a TV went missing and when he asked his son where it was, his son told him it was broken and he threw it in the garbage. A laptop computer he loaned his son ended up in a pawnshop and he had to retrieve it, the father said.
In February 2015, police were called after his son got into an argument with Belissario about his messy habits, with his son screaming at her, he said.
Police arrived and his son left the house and went back to his former wife’s home, Lescano told the B.C. Supreme Court jury.
She asked me to get Darwin and bring him to the house and said it was an emergency. I told her if it’s an emergency, just call 911.
Some time after his son returned to his mother’s home, he got a phone call from her, the dad said.
“She asked me to get Darwin and bring him to the house and said it was an emergency,” he said. “I told her if it’s an emergency, just call 911.”
Lescano said he knew his son and Belissario, who also went by the name Delma, didn’t have a good relationship when they were staying together.
“Delma told me that Darwin was stealing things from her and forging cheques and ... getting the money,” he said. “She said he was using drugs.”
At one point, his son told him he punched his mother after she threw something at him, Danilo said.
Under cross-examination from defence lawyer Brian Coleman, the father conceded his relationship with his ex-wife was hostile and, despite his attempts to make things friendly for the sake of the children, she was opposed to that kind of approach.
The father said none of the couple’s three children had a good relationship with their mother, and the accused’s drug use was a problem for the entire family.
Dinah Lescano, 39, a sister of the accused, testified about her brother coming over to stay with her on a weekend just before their mother went missing.
She said her brother’s voice sounded normal when he called her, and after he arrived at her home, they had a long talk late into the evening about a number of topics, including their parents.
Several days later, after concerns about their mom led her to call police and report her mother missing, she said she got a call from her sister-in-law saying her other brother, Dale Lescano, had found the victim “all slashed up” in her Richmond home.
The accused has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. The trial continues today.