A Richmond single mom-of-two is feeling “a little better” after pleading with the courts to protect her from a stranger who stalked her for 14 months.
However, Koszima Mair wonders if the punishment handed down Thursday to Jesse Castillo at Richmond Provincial Court will be enough to deter him from making her life hell once more.
Castillo, appearing from prison via video link, pleaded guilty to breaching an order not to contact her at her No. 1 Road home in June of this year, theft of a parcel from a home elsewhere in Richmond and two counts of failing to report to his probation officer.
But those convictions only tell half the story of Castillo, who was sentenced to 75 days, or time already served (50 days), two years’ probation and given a wider restriction zone away from Mair and her family.
For 14 months up until this summer, he would randomly turn up at her door, trying the handle and staring into her front window.
On one occasion, he was spotted in her garden, staring into her home while apparently sharpening two pieces of a broken concrete bird bath.
Castillo has been arrested several times prior to Thursday’s sentencing, either for breaching the order not to contact Mair or for failing to appear in court.
In her victim impact statement, which was read out in court by Crown counsel Sharon McCartan, Mair detailed how she and her teenage kids feel like prisoners in their own home when Castillo is not in custody.
She explained how she had to install multiple security cameras around her home, how she can’t go for a run in her own neighbourhood without constantly looking over her shoulder and how she fears for the safety of her children every time she’s not around.
“The wider exclusion zone makes me feel a little better,” Mair told the Richmond News after the sentencing.
“But he’s the one that still walks free while it’s me that keeps paying the price.
“I only hope the new (order) is enough to keep him away. It hasn’t worked in the past.”
Before the sentence was passed Thursday, McCartan argued that Castillo, given that he can offer no explanation for harassing Mair, clearly needs mental health treatment and that counselling should be part of the probation order.
His lawyer, Birgit Eder, however, pointed out that Castillo, despite having being deemed not fit to plead in June, was later deemed competent in July.
Eder claimed that her client is now lucid and articulate and understands the gravity of his actions and that he will likely be looking at a stiffer penalty if he defies the new order to steer clear of Mair.
The court also heard how, in November of last year, Castillo exhibited similarly disturbing behaviour in Turnill Street – near Garden City and Blundell roads – where he was spotted trying the doors of houses and cars, falsely claiming to residents his brother lived in the area.
During this incident, he stole a parcel from someone’s front door and was arrested shortly afterwards by police.
The court heard how Castillo was born in the U.S., before moving to Canada later in life and spent many years living in Abbotsford.
According to his lawyer, at some point he spent time in hospital in Los Angeles for a health issue connected to drug use.
She said Castillo has no family in Canada, is essentially homeless and resides mostly in local shelters.
As well as the time spent in custody, the judge ordered Castillo – as part of his two year probation order – to “attend, participate in, and complete any intake, assessment, counselling, or education program as directed by the probation officer.”
He was ordered to keep out of an exclusion zone on No. 1 Road, bound to the north by Westminster Highway, to the east by No. 2 Road, to the south by Blundell Road and to the west by the West Dyke Trail.
Castillo was also ordered to stay out of the Terra Nova Shopping Centre.
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