Edward Krzywania, left, Ula Borowska and Janina Krzywania, all family of murder victim Jim Kutyla, stand outside court on Tuesday.
Photograph by: Arlen Redekop , VANCOUVER PROVINCE
A young Burnaby man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in a four-year-old slaying in which he used a steak knife to stab to death the father of his girlfriend.
Just prior to the murder, Steven Roy Laxon had become angry at the father, 51-year-old Zdzislaw "Jim" Kutyla, when he learned that Kutyla had a new wife and child in Cuba.
Laxon, then 19, had been told about the Cuban wife by his girlfriend, Nicole Kutyla, who had earlier been informed of the news by the murder victim's ex-wife, Barbara Kutyla, who had flown to Cuba to confront the new wife.
Court heard that the two women were concerned they would be thrown out into the street, and Barbara Kutyla was in the air flying back to B.C. when Laxon armed himself with a steak knife from the Vancouver restaurant where he was employed.
In a confession to police three years after the February, 2008, murder, Laxon said he brought the knife because Kutyla had some "scary friends" and could be vicious when drunk and angry.
He travelled by bus and SkyTrain to Kutyla's home on 19th Avenue, where Kutyla lived with the ex-wife and daughter, and confronted him after being invited inside.
Laxon punched him in the head with a broken wine bottle, knocking Kutyla to his knees.
He pulled the knife out of his pocket and started stabbing him, dropping the knife when the blade broke.
He went into the kitchen for another knife and returned to Kutyla, but concluded he was dead.
Laxon dragged Kutyla to the front door and attempted unsuccessfully to cram the body into a hockey bag. He left the home and disposed of his bloody clothes in a Dumpster.
A second-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence with no parole eligibility of between 10 and 25 years.
Crown counsel Jane Nascou called for a parole ineligibility period of 12 years, while defence counsel Phil Rankin argued that the minimum 10 years was required, given his client's young age and prospects for rehabilitation.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McEwan reserved his sentence until Friday.
