Less than two years before Elvie Sig-Od and her daughter Angelica were stabbed to death, Elvie gave a video statement to police telling an officer that her husband, Godfrey Sig-Od, had threatened to kill her and take out her eyes.
Sig-Od is on trial in Toronto, facing two counts of first-degree murder relating to his ex-wife and daughter. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter but the Crown rejected that plea to proceed with a first-degree murder trial.
On Tuesday, jurors in the trial were shown a chilling video statement in a downtown Toronto courtroom, offering them a view of Elvie’s fears about her husband because he knew where she lived and worked.
“I’m walking away to go back to my car and he says, ‘Wait, stop’ and then he started to tell me, ‘I’ve been planning to kill you even before I came here. It’s my plan to kill you,’” Elvie told a York Regional Police detective in the video interview.
“He said, ‘I will take out your two eyes.’”
The videotaped interview was recorded on the evening of Nov. 20, 2020, in Markham, Ont.
In the statement, Elvie told the detective she had driven to “Canadian Linen” on Norfinch Drive where Godfrey worked as a labourer around 5:40 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 20, 2020, after arranging to pick up divorce papers which Godfrey promised to sign after being served with them a month earlier.
When Elvie arrived, she said Godfrey met her outside and told her he had forgotten the divorce papers. It was then, she alleged, he made the threats.
“I started to shake. Then he came to my face I told him, ‘You must keep your distance.’ I had to push him,” Elvie said in the video interview.
She told the officer that the couple was married in 2001 in the Philippines but then she went abroad in 2004 and the couple was separated.
Get daily National news
Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
“Since then, he got involved with another woman and then they had a child together so from that time on, our relationship is, he was raising the daughter with the mother-in-law in the Philippines,” she told Garford.
Elvie explained she came to Canada in 2006 by herself while Godfrey was having other relationships back home. She applied for a work visa before getting her permanent residency a few years later and sponsored the couple’s daughter, Angelica, who moved to Canada in 2011.
She said after her daughter arrived, she didn’t have any communication with Godfrey until 2019 when his mother asked her if she could sponsor him and bring him to Canada.
“He also asked me to work on our relationship, if it’s possible for us to work it out… Us Filipinos are family-oriented,” she said. “So, I sponsored him and then he came in January of 2020.”
Elvie explained that after his arrival, she told Godfrey that he had to prove to her that he had changed. “I also gave him another chance because he kept saying that I want to have my family back.”
She told the officer that since coming, Godfrey had been disrespectful to her and their daughter. “He constantly insults me and he’s very cruel, he’s very verbally abusive,” Elvie said.
In the interview, she said both she and her daughter were on antidepressants to deal with the stress.
Elvie was asked if she thought Godfrey was serious about the threats. “Yes,” she replied.
She also told the officer she was concerned because Godfrey knew where she lived and worked. She also mentioned the death threat he had made towards Angelica the month before.
Elvie said Godfrey was still living with them at that time and testified he got upset because his daughter put a note on the fridge saying, “Sharing is caring.” Elvie explained that the note referred to the fact that Godfrey would eat all the food in the fridge.
Elvie told the officer she heard Godfrey make the threat. He said, “Be thankful your grandmother is there because if not, you’re dead, long, long time ago”. Elvie explained, “because her grandma is the one taking care of her (Angelica) in the Philippines.”
The detective who conducted the video interview testified an arrest warrant for uttering threats was put out for Godfrey Sig-Od but said he was never arrested. They said Elvie said that Godfrey didn’t have a cellphone and could be reached through Facebook.
The detective said she called Godfrey’s workplace on Dec. 16 and asked for video surveillance from outside the business but was told there was none. They testified they later read about the stabbing of Elvie and Angelica Sig-Od while on vacation in August 2022.
“Upon my return, I made contact with an investigator from Toronto police who emailed me,” the detective said.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Daniel Brodsky asked the detective — York Regional Police Det. Jennifer Garford — why she waited a month to retrieve surveillance video from Godfrey’s workplace. “I don’t know,” they responded.
Garford said on Dec. 16, 2020, she received information that Elvie had heard from Godfrey via Facebook Messenger. “I had a phone call. She advised that her husband had been in contact and sent a video saying ‘Merry Christmas’ through Messenger.”
Brodsky asked if Elvie knew an arrest warrant had been issued for Godfrey’s arrest.
“I believe I told her,” Garford responded.
The detective also explained she tried to find out if she could contact someone through Messenger. Brodsky then asked if she tried to contact someone referred to as JR who could put her in touch with Godfrey in April 2021. Garford said she did but never heard back.
“Do you know if Godfrey knew if there was a warrant out for his arrest?” Brodsky continued. Garford said she did not.
Twenty-one months later, on Aug. 26, 2022, Elvie and Angelica Sig-Od were stabbed to death on Bathurst Street near Ellerslie Avenue. Godfrey Sig-Od was arrested at the scene and charged with their murders.
Assistant Crown attorneys Rochelle Liberman and Victoria Di Iorio have told jurors they will prove that Godfrey intended to kill his 20-year-old daughter and 44-year-old wife. They say it was planned and deliberate.
Two officers from York Regional Police also testified about meeting with Angelica and Elvie Sig-Od on the evening of Oct. 7, 2020, after they alleged that Godfrey threatened to kill Angelica.
The officers testified that the mother and daughter wanted to get a restraining order against Godfrey. One she advised Elvie that “it’s not the police’s role to file a restraining order, it’s actually the court’s.” She said she directed her to the Newmarket courthouse but was unaware if one had even been obtained.
The trial continues.
