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Dried blood found on baby boy's ear, shoe, court hears

NEW WESTMINSTER — The aunt of a Surrey woman who is on trial for allegedly murdering her own mother said she found dried blood on the ear and shoe of the accused's baby son the same night the victim's body was found.

Gloria Zerbinos, 30, is being tried for second-degree murder in the Nov. 8, 2012 death of her 43-year-old mother Panagiota "Yota" Zerbinos, whose body was found lying on the living room floor of Gloria's basement suite in Fleetwood with a kitchen knife stuck in her chest.

The trial is being heard in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, with Justice Fritz Verhoeven presiding. The judge has heard that the victim was stabbed 24 times and had been afraid to be alone with her daughter in the months leading up to her death.

Cheryl Peters was the victim's sister-in-law. The court has heard that on the afternoon before Yota's body was found, the accused had brought her 18-month old son and her pet Chihuahua to her grandmother's home a short walk away from her own basement suite, and left them there.

Peters, 35, said that after Yota's body had been found in the early evening, she went to the home of Gloria's grandmother where she found Gloria's baby boy in his stroller, "happy" but tired, with one shoe on.

She said she took the boy back to her home, along with his diaper bag, stroller, shoes and bottle.

Later that night, Peters said, her mother called her to say the media was reporting that Yota's body had been covered with a blanket. Suspecting the baby might have been at the crime scene, she decided to check his clothes.

"I checked his clothes and found blood on his shirt," she testified. At this time, the boy was in his pajamas in another room, playing with Peters' own children.

She said and her husband Rodney, the brother of Yota's husband Trevor, put the clothing in a bag and took it back to the crime scene, roughly 15 minutes away, where they gave it to a police officer.

Upon returning home, Peters told the court, "I checked his other things."

She said she then found dried blood on the toe of his shoe and "he had blood on his ear."

She said two police officers came by, put on gloves and swabbed the baby's earlobe while he slept. They took the specimen, shoes, diaper bag and stroller with them.

Asked to describe Yota's character, Peters told the court she was "sweet" and "nurturing."

Peters said the last time she saw Yota was on Nov. 6, 2012, at Guildford shopping mall where Yota worked. "She was good, she was happy. She was just starting work."

Peters said the last time she'd seen Gloria was Thanksgiving, 2012.

"She was fine. I hadn't seen her in a while," she said. She said Gloria was on Yota and Trevors's front lawn, getting her son ready.

"They were walking to church."

Some of Peters' testimony during the judge-only trial was held in a voir-dire hearing, or a trial within a trial.

Verhoeven will have to decide what weight he'll give the voir dire portion of her evidence when he considers his verdict.

The court had already heard testimony that Gloria had assaulted her mother on more than one occasion before the homicide.

Asked to describe the relationship between the mother and daughter, Peters said "the earlier years were good, fine, normal" but later there was "a little more tension. Things were kept private."

She said she never saw them fight. In July 2012, Peters said, she and Rodney went to visit Yota and Trevor at their home in Whalley.

"I observed on her eye purple when I got there," she recalled. She said she realized it was a bruise.

Rodney and Trevor stepped outside, she said, leaving she and Yota alone in the living room.

"I asked her if everything was OK," Peters told the court. "She said, 'No, everything's not OK."

She said Yota's voice cracked, and she had tears in her eyes. "She told me that her and Gloria, there was a confrontation the night before."

She said Yota told her she woke up to find Gloria talking on her phone, and told her to hang it up and go to bed.

"She said Gloria got in a rage and punched her in the face," and "said horrible things.

"It was the things she was saying that bothered her more," Peters said. She told the court she didn't ask Yota what was said, and Yota didn't tell her.

"She was hurt. Just sad."

Peters said Yota asked her if she would drive Gloria to the food bank that Friday because she couldn't see Gloria or be with her.

Peters agreed. She assumed Yota was probably thinking about the baby more than anything.

Peters said she brought her sister-in-law a puppy, and Yota told her she would like for it to meet Gloria's dog but she wasn't ready to see her daughter.

Peters said that when she drove Gloria and her baby son to the food bank, Gloria was quiet. She said she didn't ask her what happened between her and her mom, and Gloria didn't say anything. This was the day after Yota told her about the fight, she said. She added she didn't see any injuries on Gloria.

The trial continues.

tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
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