Colin Francis Sentenced to 16 Years for Nestor Vasquez Manslaughter

Thirty-three-year-old Colin Francis has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the manslaughter of 60-year-old Nestor Vasquez and 10 years for the attempted murder of psychiatric nurse Augustina Elijio.  Justice Nigel Pilgrim handed down the sentences in the High Court this morning. They will run concurrently and take effect from June 6, 2019, when Francis was first remanded. Francis will therefore serve an overall sentence of 16 years, with his seven years already spent in custody counted toward that term.  Vasquez’s brother, Channel Seven News Director Jules Vasquez, attended this morning’s sentencing. He says his brother was failed by the authorities when he was placed in the same cell as Francis, despite Francis having attacked Elijio two days earlier and being in a psychotic state.

Jules Vasquez, Brother of Nestor Vasquez: “I think it’s been a very difficult seven years and it’s not like a sentencing makes everything magically dissolve. When I’m looking at the sentence, I think that the judge was lenient in his understanding of Mr. Francis’ condition. My concern, I have no vendetta or ill will towards Mr. Francis, and I understand that he was in acute psychotic state at the time. And I also understand that the biggest failure here is of the police department, certainly in our case because they deliberately put my brother in a cell with a man in a psychotic state who his mother says she believes they did not give him the medication she had delivered. The police totally failed in their duty of care and that is why my brother is dead.”

The entire period spent in custody was consequently credited toward his sentences. The two offences occurred within days of each other. On June 4, 2019, Francis stabbed Elijio after returning to the psychiatric clinic where he had earlier sought assistance. The attack left the nurse with injuries to her liver and diaphragm. She continues to experience nerve damage and chronic pain and has been unable to return to the profession she loved.  Two days later, Francis assaulted Vasquez inside a holding cell at the Queen Street Police Station. Vasquez suffered massive blunt-force injuries and died on June 8, 2019.  Francis was initially charged with murder, but the Crown later accepted a plea to manslaughter after unchallenged psychiatric evidence established that he was suffering from schizophrenia and had diminished responsibility at the time of the killing. He also pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of Elijio