Sef Gonzales
Encyclopedia
Sef Gonzales is an Australia
n who was convicted and sentenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales
to life imprisonment
for the murder
of his father Teddy Gonzales, 46, mother Mary Loiva Josephine, 43, and sister Clodine, 18.
to a prominent local family.
After the 1990 earthquake
, Teddy, Mary Loiva and their two children emigrated to Australia, where Teddy carved out a career as an immigration lawyer. The Gonzales family appeared to be close-knit, the parents being strict, devoutly Catholic and having high hopes for their children. Later court evidence suggested, however, that the Gonzales enforced harsh discipline on their children had they not met their parents' high expectations. In particular,Teddy and Mary Loiva had hoped Sef would perform well academically, but he did not score well enough in his Higher School Certificate to be accepted into medicine or law.
After high school Gonzales attended the University of New South Wales
, where he stayed in Warrane College
for a time. Performing poorly in his courses, he tried to cover up his academic failure by falsifying his results, but when this was discovered by his parents they threatened to withdraw certain privileges, such as use of his car. He had also argued with his mother over a girlfriend of whom she disapproved, and his family had threatened to disinherit him.
This, along with the desire to inherit the family's fortune (estimated at between A$1.5 million and A$10 million), were established by police as motives for Gonzales killing his parents and sister.
Mary Loiva arrived home about 5.30pm. Immediately upon entering the house, Sef attacked her with one of the kitchen knives in the living/dining room. Gonzales inflicted multiple stab wounds and cuts to her face, neck, chest and abdomen. Her windpipe was completely transected in the attack.
Teddy arrived about 6.50pm. Very shortly after he entered the house, Sef attacked him with one of the kitchen knives and inflicted multiple stab wounds to his neck, chest, back and abdomen. One of the stab wounds penetrated his right lung, another penetrated his heart and another partially severed his spinal cord.
After killing his family, Gonzales disposed of the knife (or knives) he had used as well as the bat he had used in striking Clodine and the shoes and clothing he had been wearing at the time of committing the murders, which had become blood stained. At some time in the evening, he also spray painted the words “Fuck off Asians KKK” on a wall in the house in an attempt to fool investigating police into believing that his family had been the victims of a hate crime.
and then to a nearby video games centre. Later in the evening, after dropping his friend off, Gonzales returned home. He called police to say he had discovered the bodies on his arrival at the house, and that he had chased off intruders.
Gonzales attracted sympathy after he sang "One Sweet Day
" at the funeral and appeared on television asking for the killers to come forward, saying he wanted justice and offering a reward of $100,000 for information.
, when they were told of sightings of his car in the driveway at the time of the murders. Gonzales then constructed a second alibi, claiming he had visited a brothel
at the time of the murders, but this was proven to be false by the prostitute who he claimed to be with at the time.
Other false trails were the fabrication of an e-mail that implicated a business rival of Teddy in the murders, the fabrication of threatening e-mails, and the staging of an attempted burglary and an abduction. Sef also put a deposit on a $173,000 Lexus, telling the dealership he would be using his inheritance to pay for the vehicle, traded in his parent's car and pawned his mother's jewellery.
. He was also denied access to the family's estate to fund his defense.
The murder trial took place during April and May 2004. The trial revealed that Gonzales had planned the murders for several months before they took place. Initially Gonzales researched the idea of poisoning his family, which led to an elaborate contamination hoax. The court heard of numerous lies told to his friends, family and police regarding his whereabouts at the time of the murders.
It was found that he had committed the murders because he was fearful that, because of his poor performance in his university studies, his parents might take his car away from him and might withdraw other privileges which had been granted to him and that he wished to be the sole beneficiary of his parent's property, estimated to be worth $1.5 million.
On 20 May 2004, the jury found Gonzales guilty of all four charges. He was sentenced on 17 September 2004 (the day after his 24th birthday) to three concurrent life sentences without parole
for the murders, Justice Bruce James remarking "I consider that the murders show features of very great heinousness and that there are no facts mitigating the objective seriousness of the murders and hence the murders fall within the worst category of cases of murder at common law." Gonzales is now serving his sentence as a maximum security inmate at Lithgow Correctional Centre, and maintains his innocence.
determined that statements taken from Gonzales by police on the night of the murders may be inadmissible, as he was not cautioned. On 27 November 2007, Sef Gonzales' appeal was dismissed as there had been no miscarriage of justice, and his convictions remained.
house where the murders took place was put on the market, arousing controversy in October 2004 when the prospective buyers, a Buddhist couple, learned of the home's history. They had not been informed of the events that took place there, finding out from a newspaper only when the balance of the sale value was due. After this incident was publicised the NSW government made it illegal to sell a house without disclosing murders that took place in it. The agents eventually refunded the buyer's deposit on their purchase due to the bad publicity it caused for LJ Hooker. The real estate company was also fined $21,000. In November 2005 the house was sold for $720,000 ($80,000 less than the initial sale) to a buyer who was aware of its history.http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Gonzales-house-fails-to-sell/2005/03/17/1110913733475.html
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n who was convicted and sentenced in the Supreme Court of New South Wales
Supreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for the murder
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
of his father Teddy Gonzales, 46, mother Mary Loiva Josephine, 43, and sister Clodine, 18.
Background
Sef Gonzales was born in Baguio, PhilippinesPhilippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
to a prominent local family.
After the 1990 earthquake
1990 Luzon earthquake
The Luzon earthquake occurred on Monday, July 16, 1990, at 4:26 PM local time in the Philippines. The densely populated island of Luzon was struck by an earthquake with a 7.8 Ms...
, Teddy, Mary Loiva and their two children emigrated to Australia, where Teddy carved out a career as an immigration lawyer. The Gonzales family appeared to be close-knit, the parents being strict, devoutly Catholic and having high hopes for their children. Later court evidence suggested, however, that the Gonzales enforced harsh discipline on their children had they not met their parents' high expectations. In particular,Teddy and Mary Loiva had hoped Sef would perform well academically, but he did not score well enough in his Higher School Certificate to be accepted into medicine or law.
After high school Gonzales attended the University of New South Wales
University of New South Wales
The University of New South Wales , is a research-focused university based in Kensington, a suburb in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
, where he stayed in Warrane College
Warrane College
Warrane College is an affiliated residential College at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The name of the College is derived from the Aboriginal word for the Sydney Cove area, "Warrang", highlighting the recognition by Warrane and UNSW of Australia’s indigenous people as original...
for a time. Performing poorly in his courses, he tried to cover up his academic failure by falsifying his results, but when this was discovered by his parents they threatened to withdraw certain privileges, such as use of his car. He had also argued with his mother over a girlfriend of whom she disapproved, and his family had threatened to disinherit him.
This, along with the desire to inherit the family's fortune (estimated at between A$1.5 million and A$10 million), were established by police as motives for Gonzales killing his parents and sister.
The murders
On July 10, 2001, about 4.30pm Gonzales entered Clodine’s bedroom, where she was studying. He was armed with a baseball bat or a bat similar to a baseball bat and with two kitchen knives he had taken from a knife block in the kitchen. These two knives were the longest knives in the set of knives in the block. It was found that he compressed Clodine’s neck trying to strangle her, struck her at least six separate blows to the head with the bat and stabbed her many times with one or both of the knives. He inflicted five major stab wounds to Clodine’s neck and two major stab wounds to her chest or abdomen. The cause of Clodine’s death was the combined effect of the compression of her neck, the blunt force head injuries and the abdominal stab wounds.Mary Loiva arrived home about 5.30pm. Immediately upon entering the house, Sef attacked her with one of the kitchen knives in the living/dining room. Gonzales inflicted multiple stab wounds and cuts to her face, neck, chest and abdomen. Her windpipe was completely transected in the attack.
Teddy arrived about 6.50pm. Very shortly after he entered the house, Sef attacked him with one of the kitchen knives and inflicted multiple stab wounds to his neck, chest, back and abdomen. One of the stab wounds penetrated his right lung, another penetrated his heart and another partially severed his spinal cord.
After killing his family, Gonzales disposed of the knife (or knives) he had used as well as the bat he had used in striking Clodine and the shoes and clothing he had been wearing at the time of committing the murders, which had become blood stained. At some time in the evening, he also spray painted the words “Fuck off Asians KKK” on a wall in the house in an attempt to fool investigating police into believing that his family had been the victims of a hate crime.
After the murders
After committing the murders, Gonzales drove to a friend's house, arriving there about 8pm. Sef and his friend, Sam Deilio (who neither knew or was told anything about the murders), went to the city, where they went to Planet HollywoodPlanet Hollywood
Planet Hollywood, a restaurant inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood, was launched in New York on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.-History:...
and then to a nearby video games centre. Later in the evening, after dropping his friend off, Gonzales returned home. He called police to say he had discovered the bodies on his arrival at the house, and that he had chased off intruders.
Gonzales attracted sympathy after he sang "One Sweet Day
One Sweet Day
"One Sweet Day" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and R&B group Boyz II Men. The song was written by Carey, Walter Afanasieff and the members of Boyz II Men: Wanya Morris, Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, and Michael McCary. "One Sweet Day" was produced by Carey and Afanasieff for...
" at the funeral and appeared on television asking for the killers to come forward, saying he wanted justice and offering a reward of $100,000 for information.
The investigation heats up
However, police investigating the murders began to believe that he was the perpetrator. In December, investigating police were able to disprove Gonzales' first alibiAlibi
Alibi is a 1929 American crime film directed by Roland West. The screenplay was written by West and C. Gardner Sullivan, who adapted the 1927 Broadway stage play, Nightstick, written by Elaine Sterne Carrington, J.C...
, when they were told of sightings of his car in the driveway at the time of the murders. Gonzales then constructed a second alibi, claiming he had visited a brothel
Brothel
Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...
at the time of the murders, but this was proven to be false by the prostitute who he claimed to be with at the time.
Other false trails were the fabrication of an e-mail that implicated a business rival of Teddy in the murders, the fabrication of threatening e-mails, and the staging of an attempted burglary and an abduction. Sef also put a deposit on a $173,000 Lexus, telling the dealership he would be using his inheritance to pay for the vehicle, traded in his parent's car and pawned his mother's jewellery.
Trial
On 13 June 2002, detectives from Strike Force Tawas of the NSW Police arrested Sef Gonzales and charged him with three counts of murder and one count of threatening product contamination. He was refused bail and held in remand in Silverwater Correctional CentreSilverwater Correctional Centre
Silverwater Correctional Centre is a minimum security Australian male prison facility, located in Holker St, Silverwater, west of the Sydney central business district in New South Wales, Australia.-Notable prisoners:...
. He was also denied access to the family's estate to fund his defense.
The murder trial took place during April and May 2004. The trial revealed that Gonzales had planned the murders for several months before they took place. Initially Gonzales researched the idea of poisoning his family, which led to an elaborate contamination hoax. The court heard of numerous lies told to his friends, family and police regarding his whereabouts at the time of the murders.
It was found that he had committed the murders because he was fearful that, because of his poor performance in his university studies, his parents might take his car away from him and might withdraw other privileges which had been granted to him and that he wished to be the sole beneficiary of his parent's property, estimated to be worth $1.5 million.
On 20 May 2004, the jury found Gonzales guilty of all four charges. He was sentenced on 17 September 2004 (the day after his 24th birthday) to three concurrent life sentences without parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
for the murders, Justice Bruce James remarking "I consider that the murders show features of very great heinousness and that there are no facts mitigating the objective seriousness of the murders and hence the murders fall within the worst category of cases of murder at common law." Gonzales is now serving his sentence as a maximum security inmate at Lithgow Correctional Centre, and maintains his innocence.
Appeal
In June 2007 Gonzales was granted approval to appeal his conviction and his sentence. The Supreme CourtSupreme Court of New South Wales
The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales...
determined that statements taken from Gonzales by police on the night of the murders may be inadmissible, as he was not cautioned. On 27 November 2007, Sef Gonzales' appeal was dismissed as there had been no miscarriage of justice, and his convictions remained.
Sale of the Gonzales home
The North RydeNorth Ryde, New South Wales
North Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. North Ryde is located 15 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Ryde...
house where the murders took place was put on the market, arousing controversy in October 2004 when the prospective buyers, a Buddhist couple, learned of the home's history. They had not been informed of the events that took place there, finding out from a newspaper only when the balance of the sale value was due. After this incident was publicised the NSW government made it illegal to sell a house without disclosing murders that took place in it. The agents eventually refunded the buyer's deposit on their purchase due to the bad publicity it caused for LJ Hooker. The real estate company was also fined $21,000. In November 2005 the house was sold for $720,000 ($80,000 less than the initial sale) to a buyer who was aware of its history.http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Gonzales-house-fails-to-sell/2005/03/17/1110913733475.html
External links
- Sef's webpage he made, dedicating it to himself
- Gonzales murder home price drop (Daily Telegraph)
- Sentencing (Supreme Court of NSW)
- Sins of the Son (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Family too scared to live in house of horror (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Mystery buyer pays $720,000 for Gonzales murder house (Sydney Morning Herald)
- Gonzales granted appeal (Sydney Morning Herald)