British Columbia

B.C. woman who killed mother sentenced for second murder while serving time

Gloria Zerbinos received an automatic life sentence in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday and will not be eligible for parole until 2031 for killing April Peregooda in 2013.

Gloria Zerbinos received an automatic life sentence, not eligible for parole until 2031

April Peregooda, 51, was found unresponsive by staff at Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge in Nov. 2013. (CBC)

A Surrey woman who killed her mother has been sentenced for a second murder.

Gloria Zerbinos received an automatic life sentence in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday and will not be eligible for parole until 2031 for the second-degree murder of April Peregooda. She was convicted in Nov. 2018.

According to Crown prosecutor Jay Fogel, Zerbinos killed Peregooda in 2013 while remanded to Alouette Correctional Centre for Women in Maple Ridge.

At the time, Zerbinos was on trial for killing her mother, Panagiota Zerbinos in 2012. Fogel said Zerbinos has already been convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced for that crime: an automatic life sentence and parole ineligibility until 2024. 

According to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, Peregooda, 51, was found unresponsive by jail staff in Nov. 2013 and taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

Peregooda, who lived in Vernon before incarceration, had been in jail for seven months.

As part of her sentence, Zerbinos will also have a weapons ban for life and must provide a DNA sample.

In Canada, the minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no parole for 10 years, but sentences can be as long as life in prison without parole for 25 years.

With files from Jodi Muzylowski