Article content

A man accused in the murder of his Vancouver landlord had stolen rent money just before the slaying in the building that catered to young travellers and foreign students, a prosecutor said Monday.

At the outset of his trial, Diego Alfonso Huerta, 23, pleaded not guilty to the March 2017 second-degree murder of Sofien Kazdaghli, 39. Huerta, a Mexican citizen on a student visa, had been renting a suite from Kazdaghli and the victim’s business associate, Gurpreet Singh, in a condo building in the 400-block of Seymour St. At the time, Huerta was sharing the suite with two roommates who were also international students.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Man accused in murder of Vancouver landlord stole rent money: Crown Back to video

In his opening statement, Crown counsel Daniel Mulligan said that on the night of the slaying one of the roommates of Huerta heard a knock on the door that he assumed was Kazdaghli. He said the roommate, a Japanese student named Yuya Hayase, heard a sound like the breaking of plates as well as a male voice scream and groan. When the groaning sound persisted, Hayase went out of his room to investigate and Huerta approached him from the kitchen, said Mulligan. After Hayase asked what had had happened, he was not sure what Huerta said in response, said the Crown.