GUILTY OF BURNING UP HER HUSBAND

54-year-old Viola Pook was found guilty of murder in the court of Justice Herbert Lord. Pook was charged with the murder of her common law husband 46-year-old Orlando Mai Vasquez. The jury of eight men and four women deliberated for about four hours and 42 minutes before it arrived at its verdict. Justice Lord has adjourned sentencing until Wednesday, July 20. The incident occurred on the night of December 3, 2008 at Rancho Dolores. Vasquez who was in the kitchen located in a separate building from his house received second degree burns on 70% of his body. He died two days later at Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital. The prosecution represented by Crown Counsel Kaysha Grant called 10 witnesses chief among them was Sergeant Aaron Zuniga who testified that when he arrived at the scene Pook told him that it was she who set Vasquez on fire. On January 2, 2009, Pook was examined by a doctor who testified that she had first degree burns on her right forearm. Pook gave a statement from the dock in which she said that she was in the house when she heard a loud noise and screams coming from the kitchen. She said when she went to the kitchen she saw that her common law husband was on fire. Pook was represented by attorney Hubert Elrington.