The life of a east Vancouver family of four was shattered when four masked intruders demanding money smashed a ground floor window of their home at 4 a.m., which was the start of more than two hours of a living nightmare of being bound, gagged and abducted and driven kilometres away from their home.

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That morning, on March 11, 2023, seconds after the mother heard glass breaking on the first floor and had just got up to turn on the light, all four males, each holding a gun and armed with knives, burst into her and her husband’s bedroom, according to a new court ruling.

Last of four suspects convicted in March 2023 Richmond home invasion and kidnapping Back to video

One of the men pushed her on to the bed and threw a television at her head before jumping on her, grabbing her head, hair and throat and punching her. She struggled and yelled while he told her repeatedly to shut up.

The mother, who along with other family members wasn’t named, was left with bruises on her face and upper body and lost several nails in the fight.

Meanwhile, another intruder stuck a gun in her husband’s face and tied his hands behind his back with zap strap. He demanded cash and the key to a storage locker, the father later testified he assumed they meant to his warehouse and shop he rented in Richmond where he and his brother repaired and stored cars.

Their two daughters, 18 and 21 at the time, were brought into the parents’ bedroom, and all four were bound with zap straps and their mouths taped, according to B.C. Supreme Court judgment convicting the ringleader, Sijuola Israel Obatusa.

The 23-year-old had pleaded not guilty to breaking and entering and kidnapping. The prosecution case during the eight-day trial relied on circumstantial evidence to prove Obatusa was there that night. Obatusa was found guilty on April 2 following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court. Obatusa is the last of the four suspects to be convicted.

His co-accused included a youth who can’t be named because of his age, and two adults, all of whom pleaded guilty.

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“I am satisfied that the totality of the evidence, triangulated through the DNA, telephone, and identification evidence, and viewed in the light of common sense and human experience, establish the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Justice David Crerar.

The ordeal for the family started in their two-storey home in a single family residential area near Main Street and 35th Avenue, where the mother, who the judge said was South Asian and referred to herself and to one of the abductors as “Brown” or “Indian,” was taunted with racial epithets.

One intruder threatened to shoot her daughters in front of her, Crerar wrote.

The women testified that one of the men said he didn’t know there would be kids in the house and that they seemed confused and disorganized and bickered among themselves and huddled together to discuss next steps.

They identified the one intruder that was later determined to be Obatusa to be the one in charge. “At all times, (Obatusa) expressed frustration with the others,” Crerar wrote.

The women were led through the kitchen to the family cars parked out back and while the daughters were allowed to put on shoes, “the mother was forced to walk across the broken deck door glass,” he said.

The women said while they drove, the intruders would occasionally say, “I hope that we get paid for this stuff we’re doing.”

While their drivers were speaking on the phone to the others in the other car, the women testified they could hear the father say, “Please, don’t hurt them.”

In the other car, Obatusa held his gun to the father’s face and several times put it in his mouth and down his throat and the father testified he could “taste the gun,” and he threatened to cut off his wife’s finger, Crerar wrote.

When they got to the father’s warehouse, Obatusa demanded cash and when told there was none, he got angry and started throwing things.

The women, meanwhile, were driven down the dark and deserted Rice Mill Road in Richmond, where they were abandoned in their car, still bound and in their night clothes. They were able to get out of the car and walk about 100 metres to the B.C. Ferries fleet maintenance yard, where they eventually got help from an employee, who was slow and reluctant to help, and later first responders, Crerar wrote.

The father, beaten and bloodied, was dropped off in Surrey at 6:30 a.m. and walked up to a house to ask for help.

Obatusa’s DNA was found on the various zap straps and tape, which formed evidence against him, as did the images, information and metadata from his phone. The phone was seized from him two months later by police investigating another alleged home invasion, according to the judgment.

In his phone were images of the family’s home, a search for the address of the house, Apple Maps streetview screenshots of the back lane of the house, photos of the tape and rope used in the abduction and digital directions to the location on Rice Mill Road where the three women were driven to, as well as a photo of the father’s bloodied face during the kidnapping.

As well, there was a closeup photo of a face that looked like the accused, taken as a selfie or accidentally.

Prosecution evidence included neighbourhood and warehouse and shop video.

Even though he wore a mask and witnesses could not specifically identify him, his physical appearance in court and his police mug shot were consistent with the family’s descriptions, Crerar wrote.

“I am also satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that based on the testimony of the family members, as well as the phone evidence, that the accused played a leadership and planning role in the home invasion and kidnapping,” Crerar wrote. “The operation was clearly not improvised or spontaneous or ‘made on the fly’, as argued by defence,” he said.

Obatusa will be sentenced later.

slazaruk@postmedia.com