Jesusa Ursonal Tatad’s husband, whom she killed with boiling water out of jealousy and anger, died “for no good reason, no good reason at all,” a judge said before sentencing the Daly City woman to 16 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.
Tatad, dressed in orange jail clothes and often dabbing her eyes during Friday’s hearing, received the maximum allowed under the terms of a plea deal negotiated in April although the victim’s sister asked a judge to hand down life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing Ronie Tatad. His initial scalding and later death devastated his family, Lilibeth Estes told the judge and a courtroom with about two dozen onlookers.
“No human being deserves to be punished this way,” Estes said, calling her former sister-in-law vile, violent and vengeful.
But Tatad, who did not address the court, is “no monster” and caused the death of the only man she ever loved, according to her defense attorney John May.
“She wishes desperately that she could change the outcome of her rash act,” May said. “She is so very, very sorry for what has happened.”
Jesusa Tatad, 41, and Ronie Tatad, 36, were divorced but living together. She reportedly thought they had plans to remarry and bring their two daughters over from the Philippines but, two weeks prior to the scalding, she walked in on him and his girlfriend.
At approximately 10:50 a.m. Nov. 26, 2011, Tatad boiled a pot of water which she poured on his face and upper body. The sleeping man awoke in intense pain and tried running to the bathroom for safety before fleeing the second-story apartment on Coronado Avenue to find a security guard who called police. Ronie Tatad was treated for second- and third-degree burns on more than 60 percent of his face. He initially told the guard and police Tatad attacked him with the water and hit him over the head with a baseball bat when he tried escaping but was sedated by physicians due to the pain and gave no further statements before he died Dec. 9, 2011.
Estes, flying to San Francisco from her home after the scalding, said he died 20 minutes before her plane landed and, when she did see him, he was disfigured beyond recognition.
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Tatad denied hitting him with the bat and the autopsy did not confirm any head trauma. Saying the scalding water was the confirmed cause of his death, Judge Robert Foiles on Friday agreed to remove reference to the claim from Tatad’s probation report. However, Foiles spared her little leniency in his remarks before sentencing.
“It’s truly unimaginable to kill someone you purportedly love by scalding them,” Foiles said.
Prosecutor Morris Maya echoed the sentiment, saying that her taking advantage of the vulnerable sleeping man is “something that speaks volumes here.”
Estes told Tatad directly that her husband’s family may someday forgive her for the brutal and merciless killing, but not now.
“I hope you start praying to God to have mercy on your soul,” Estes said.
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