In a Toronto courtroom Tuesday, well-known Canadian actor Maria Del Mar Del Castillo broke down in tears as she told a judge she has spent most of the past two-and-a-half years in her bedroom self-isolating after the senseless and gruesome murder of her son.
“The worst thing that can happen to anyone is to have their child murdered,” Del Mar Del Castillo said, looking directly at Superior Court Justice Susanne Boucher at the sentencing hearing for her son’s killer, Ryan Andrews.
Del Mar Del Castillo recalled that before her son Gabriel Del Castillo Mullally was murdered on Feb. 5, 2023, she was fighting cancer after being diagnosed less than two years earlier.
Since then, Del Mar Del Castillo explained she’s also been fighting for justice.
“My fight for justice and my daughter’s well-being will never be over. The murderer is a threat to my daughter. I won’t feel safe for my daughter or anyone with him walking the streets,” said Del Mar Del Castillo.
“He didn’t attack you. He told you to ‘Go home.’ Why didn’t you just go home and leave my son?” said Del Mar Del Castillo, looking at Andrews, who was sitting in the prisoner’s box.
In May, a jury found Andrews guilty of second-degree murder after just over one day of deliberations.
Del Mar Del Castillo described her son as a “chill peacemaker or peacekeeper” who was kind, funny, athletic and intellectual.
She also said her son was not a child actor, as he’s been portrayed in the media.
“Gabriel expressed an interest in one movie. He ended up landing the lead role and it went to TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival). After TIFF, Gabriel expressed he did not want to be an actor,” she said, getting a chuckle out of the packed courtroom.
She said he did appear in one more movie that Del Mar Del Castillo described as a passion project about his grandma.
During closing submissions in May, assistant crown attorneys Andrew Gibbons and Karolina Visic told the jury that Andrews intended to strike and run over Del Castillo Mullally when he drove up onto the sidewalk on Danforth Avenue towards him and his friend Jake Hopkins that night.
During the trial, the jury heard that Andrews had been thrown out of the Rusty Nail Pub earlier in the evening after having an interaction with Del Castillo Mullally and his friends. Andrews discovered his cellphone was missing and believed that Del Castillo Mullally had stolen it.
Gibbons told the jury during closing submissions that there was no robbery inside the Rusty Nail, but Andrews’ belief and his feeling of disrespect were his motive. Gibbons suggested Andrews was angry, flew into a rage and went hunting for Del Castillo Mullally.
After being ejected from the bar, video surveillance shown in court captured Andrews stabbing at the back door of the bar and calling Del Castillo Mullally out. Gibbons said Andrews was seeking and planning a violent confrontation, but when his initial approach didn’t work, he adapted his plan.
Andrews was captured on video going back and forth between the front and rear doors of the bar to intercept Del Castillo Mullally as he left The Rusty Nail.
Initially, when Del Castillo Mullally emerged from the bar, Andrews confronted him on the sidewalk. Gibbons said Andrews was outnumbered, and when he tried to come at Del Castillo Mullally, Del Castillo Mullally kicked towards Andrews before Hopkins punched him. Gibbons said Andrews again adapted his plan and decided to use his vehicle as a weapon.
Gibbons pointed out that the first time Andrews drove up onto the sidewalk at Del Castillo Mullally and the rest of the group, Andrews couldn’t get close to him because the way was blocked by obstructions. After the first sidewalk incident was unsuccessful, Andrews decided to try again, Gibbons told the jury.
Gibbons said Andrews waited for a stretch of sidewalk that was free of obstructions before driving up onto the sidewalk a second time, driving right at Del Castillo Mullally and hitting him.
Video surveillance captured the 25-year-old man being pushed back several feet before he fell onto the road. Del Castillo Mullally was dragged and Andrews drove over him with the front and rear left tires of his Subaru before driving off. Del Castillo Mullally was killed.
The Crown urged the jury to reject the defence’s argument that Andrews was too intoxicated to be able to form the specific intent for murder.
Andrews testified in his own defence that he had consumed cocaine, a number of alcoholic drinks and maybe some Adderall prior to the interaction and said his level of intoxication was a nine out of 10.
Andrews said his main purpose when he approached Del Castillo Mullally on the sidewalk was to get his phone back. His lawyers said Andrews was provoked by Hopkins and Del Castillo Mullally, who assaulted him on the sidewalk, and argued he was acting in self-defence.
Andrews testified he wanted to scare, humiliate and embarrass Hopkins, but had no intention of hurting anyone.
The guilty verdict for second-degree murder means the jury rejected the defence’s argument that Andrews was acting in self-defence.
Terry Mullally, Del Castillo Mullally’s uncle, called Andrews “a madman” in his victim impact statement.
Maureen Mullally, the victim’s grandmother, wrote in her victim impact statement that she will never forget getting a phone call from Del Castillo Mullally’s father, telling her that a car had been driven into her grandson by an angry man using a car as a lethal weapon.
The sentencing hearing continues.