‘My heart is completely broken,’ Balaquit’s devastated widow tells court Crown recommends 18-year sentence in 2018 manslaughter; defence argues for less, citing lack of physical evidence
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/11/2022 (680 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Devastated by grief more than four years after losing their beloved patriarch, the family of slain cleaner Eduardo Balaquit told a Manitoba judge their lives will never be the same.
More than two dozen members of the victim’s family, many in tears, packed the Winnipeg courtroom Wednesday during 37-year-old Kyle Pietz’s Court of King’s Bench sentencing hearing.
“My heart is completely broken,” widow Illuminada Balaquit told Justice Sadie Bond in a victim-impact statement. “I hope this person who did this to my husband will pay for the rest of his life.”
ERIK PINDERA / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Edward Balaquit holds a photograph of his father, Eduardo, outside Winnipeg’s courthouse on Wednesday, while his mother Illuminada stands to the right. 
The Crown recommended Balaquit’s killer be sentenced to 18 years in prison. Pietz’s defence lawyers suggested eight to 10 years behind bars would be more appropriate.
In May, jurors deliberated less than one day before convicting Pietz of manslaughter in a case distinguished by the fact Balaquit’s body has not been found.
The 59-year-old husband and father disappeared on June 4, 2018, after leaving home for Westcon Equipment and Rentals on Keewatin Street, where he had a contract as a cleaner.
During the trial, the jury heard prosecutors describe how Pietz, a former Westcon employee, was desperate for cash and killed the vulnerable Balaquit while robbing him of his bank cards and PIN numbers at the business that evening.
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On Wednesday, Balaquit’s sons Edward and Erwin sat with their mother in the front row of the courtroom’s spectator gallery, listening as prosecutor Vanessa Gama explained the Crown’s reasoning for the lengthy sentence recommendation; Edward clutched a framed photograph of Eduardo, and Erwin hunched over with his head down, at times.
Gama asked Bond to find in sentencing Pietz that the robbery was planned, the victim was vulnerable, there was a financial motive, that the death was not an accident and that he destroyed evidence.
Defence lawyer Brett Taylor argued the lack of aggravating facts, including how Balaquit was assaulted and his body concealed, among other factors, means the Crown can’t justify the sentence it seeks.
“There’s very little facts on which to sentence,” Taylor told the judge, adding the law does not determine incarceration length based on revenge.
Absent a body, there is no evidence to show how Balaquit was killed. Police found no blood, DNA or other evidence the death occurred at Westcon.
FREE PRESS FILES Crown prosecutors are asking Kyle Pietz be sentenced to 18 years in prison.
Investigators using cell tower records tracked Pietz’s phone from Westcon to a nearby Safeway and Liquor Mart, back to Pietz’s Toronto Street home and then to the Arborg area.
At trial, the Crown argued Balaquit’s body was in the trunk of Pietz’s car at each of those points.
An intensive ground search in the Arborg area failed to uncover the body.
Defence lawyer Amanda Sansregret said Pietz, a father of two, had no criminal record prior to the killing. She told court he had a difficult upbringing at times and has struggled with alcoholism, but has been a caring man who doted on his family.
“There’s no doubt this is an extremely tragic case,” said Sansregret. “Whatever sentence the court imposes… cannot compensate the Balaquit family for their loss.”
SUPPLIED Illuminada Balaquit, with husband Eduardo, told the judge “my heart is completely broken.”
Pietz’s mother, stepfather, half-sister, common-law wife and daughters wrote a letter to Bond requesting he be shown leniency.
Gama filed 21 victim-impact statements to the court, each describing what the loss meant to the writer, and seven family photographs.
As Balaquit’s widow and sons read their statements, Pietz listened from his seat nearby in the prisoner box.
“Every day, every night, every minute, every hour, we have nightmares,” Illuminada Balaquit told court, in tears from the moment she began speaking, as Edward stood by her side.
“There’s no more birthdays, anniversaries, thanksgiving, holidays, Christmas together. We will never be the same.”
June 4, 2018 was the night the close-knit family changed forever, Erwin said.
“When I wake up, my heart shatters all over. When I go to sleep, I have nightmares.”–Erwin Balaquit
“My dad never came back home that night, so we started the search; lots of sleepless nights. I recall the first few weeks, I never slept. Me and my brother would get home at 4 a.m.,” he said.
“When I wake up, my heart shatters all over. When I go to sleep, I have nightmares.”
Balaquit’s sons spent countless hours following up on tips they received that took them into residential neighbourhoods and highways on the outskirts of the city, down ditches and into ponds, through thick bush and across open prairie fields.
Erwin said his father was his biggest supporter, and in the last four years, he’s struggled at work and in life with depression and anxiety. He described Eduardo as a caring father, a hard worker and a great singer with a smile that would “light up a room.”
“A life sentence will not bring my dad back but it will keep the defendant from committing another crime again,” Erwin told Bond.
“They made him sound like a family man — my dad was a family man… they made (Pietz) sound like a saint, but saints don’t do what he’s done. Eight to 10 years, to take a life… to me, it’s not enough.”–Edward Balaquit
Edward said his father, who smiled everywhere he went, taught him to let bad things go and work on fixing problems rather than dwelling on them.
The physical pain of searching through rural areas and rough terrain seemed endless, Edward told Bond, and the emotional pain remains.
“This is the gift that Kyle has given us. It’s a gift that keeps on giving,” he said.
He again appealed for Pietz to reveal where his father’s remains are.
Pietz declined to speak to the court. Bond said she was reserving her decision until Dec. 12.
Outside the courthouse, as his family members stood shivering nearby, a frustrated Edward said “it sounds like Kyle’s not going to give us anything.”
“They made him sound like a family man — my dad was a family man… they made (Pietz) sound like a saint, but saints don’t do what he’s done. Eight to 10 years, to take a life… to me, it’s not enough.”
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.
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History
Updated on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 4:29 PM CST: Adds image of Balaquit's family
Updated on Wednesday, November 9, 2022 9:24 PM CST: Corrects spelling of Erwin
