WARNING: This story contains disturbing details

Kia Ebrahimian should serve life in prison, with no chance of parole for at least 15 years, for the murder of three members of his family, Crown prosecutors and defense lawyers agreed in New Westminster Supreme Court on Friday.

Lawyers laid out the circumstances of both the crime and the killer in a sentencing hearing on Dec. 16, before the judge heard emotional victim impact statements.

Ebrahimian pleaded guilty to three counts of second degree murder on Oct. 3, in the 2020 killings of his mother Tatiana Bazyar, Bazyar鈥檚 common-law husband Francesco Zangrilli, and Ebrahimian鈥檚 brother Befrin.

Relatives of the victims, including Tatiana鈥檚 brother Armand Bazyar, Zangrilli鈥檚 brother Giampiero Zangrilli, Befrin鈥檚 girlfriend Kiko Kung, and Befrin鈥檚 childhood friend Ahna Whiteman, were among those who spoke.

Whiteman spoke of growing up with Befrin, who she knew as Medea, and described him as being like a sibling to her.

鈥淚t breaks my heart that I鈥檒l never get to meet Befrin, her true identity, which she found later in life,鈥� Whiteman said.

Kung broke down in tears as she delivered her statement.

鈥淚 grew up thinking something was wrong with me, and I was unloveable,鈥� Kung said. That changed when she became friends with Befrin.

鈥淲ith him, I didn鈥檛 have to pretend to be something else,鈥� she said.

She described how they texted multiple times a day, until June 13.

鈥淲hen he didn鈥檛 respond to me for hours, I knew something was wrong.鈥�

She went to check on him at his home, and turned the corner to see the house gutted by fire.

鈥淚鈥檝e lost my best friend in the world,鈥� Kung said.

Zangrilli鈥檚 family watched the proceedings via a live video from the Canadian embassy in Rome.

Giampiero鈥檚 impact statement, read to the court by Crown lawyer Sonya Bertrand, spoke of how their mother still goes to visit her son鈥檚 grave every day.

鈥淗ow can one accept the death of one鈥檚 own son?鈥� Giampiero wrote.

Crown prosecutor Michael Fortino summarized the facts of the case for Justice Murray Blok.

Before the June 13, 2020 attack, Ebrahimian had no criminal record, and his only interactions with police had been when he was at risk of self-harm.

He had moved back in with his mother, step-father, and brother in March of that year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

鈥淭here had been strife in the home for some time,鈥� said Fortino.

Both Fortino and defense lawyer Donna Turcot painted a picture of Ebrahimian as a young man who was socially isolated, with few or no friends, and who had dropped out of school and only worked a few jobs.

He was angry with his mother, and repeatedly clashed with his brother Befrin, a trans man, using transphobic language.

Late in the afternoon of June 13, Zangrilli phoned the non-emergency number of the Langley RCMP. The call would capture the sounds of the murders, as Ebrahimian attacked his family with knives, starting with Zangrilli, then his mother, and then Befrin.

After that, he doused the lower floor of the family鈥檚 Wakefield Drive home with gasoline, let out his dogs, and set the building ablaze. He headed back up to his second floor bedroom, and only survived because three neighbours put up a ladder and rescued him after they noticed smoke.

RCMP, alerted to a domestic incident by the phone call, arrived to find the house already filling with smoke.

READ ALSO:

One officer broke a window to gain access to the lower floor and dragged out Zangrilli, and although first responders tried to revive him, he was declared dead at the scene.

The other two bodies would only be discovered by firefighters later.

At the RCMP detachment headquarters, officers noticed an item in Ebrahimian鈥檚 pocket, and fearing it was a weapon, they searched him. They found a large folding knife, still with blood on the blade, and a second knife hung around his neck.

After being hospitalized with suicidal thoughts within 24 hours of the murder, Ebrahimian was charged with murder on July 11, 2020.

He鈥檚 been in custody ever since.

Both Crown and the defense said that Ebrahimian鈥檚 mental state is poor, and he鈥檚 been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

He has attempted suicide multiple times since he was arrested, including ingesting several razor blades, and trying to fling himself off an upper tier in the pre-trial centre where he鈥檚 been held for the last two years.

鈥淗e hears his mother鈥檚 voice,鈥� said Turcot. 鈥淗e lives in a very, how can I say it, we would see it as a very pitiful existence. He would see it as a painful existence.鈥�

Ebrahimian is currently being given powerful medications to attempt to control his suicidal urges. Turcot asked the judge to recommend he be sent to a medical prison facility rather than Kent Institution, which is the usual first stop for convicted murderers in B.C.

Wearing an orange sweat suit, Ebrahimian entered the courtroom hunched over, and sat almost silently in the prisoner鈥檚 box during the morning-long hearing. He frequently rocked back and forth.

Asked if he wanted to say anything before the judge passes sentence, he declined through Turcot.

Blok will make his sentencing ruling on Monday, Dec. 19, at 10 a.m.