At the opening day of the trial for Giuseppe Zollerano charged with the first-degree murder of his wife Katherine Zollerano, jurors were told that the couple appeared to be fighting in the hours prior to the alleged hit-and-run in south Etobicoke which the crown said ultimately led to the wife’s death.
The couple had been married for 16 years and had a 15-year-old daughter together.
Assistant crown attorney James Frost told jurors the crown’s case against Giuseppe would focus on the early morning hours of Sept. 25, 2022.
Much of what happened that night was captured on video surveillance gathered from the house where the couple and daughter lived and from neighboring homes.
Police received a 911 call from a witness who saw the 43-year-old mother lying on the ground on the side of Gamma Street near Browns Line and Evans Avenue just before 3 a.m.
Video surveillance shown in court captured that witness interacting with Giuseppe who had just walked down the street.
He is seen carrying his wife’s body, walking across the street before putting her down and standing over her for a minute. He picks her up and puts her down again.
An ambulance can be seen coming down the street before the couple’s daughter is captured arriving on scene.
Frost told jurors in his opening address that Giuseppe told first responders he didn’t know what happened and thought his wife got hit by a car.
Katherine Zollerano, who had worked as a hairdresser in the area, was rushed to hospital where she would undergo multiple surgeries before succumbing to her injuries on Nov. 7, 2022.
An autopsy determined her cause of death was multiple blunt force trauma.
The extensive video surveillance captured from cameras at the Zollerano family home showed the Zollerano’s arriving home after a night out with another couple.
One of the cameras later appeared to show Giuseppe abruptly slapping Katherine in the face with their friends nearby.
After the friends leave, Giuseppe can be seen throwing her out of the side door in the garage before shutting the door. She falls to the ground, before getting up and walking towards the front of the house and heads north on Gamma Street.
About ten minutes later, as Katherine is seen returning to the home, Giuseppe can be seen confronting her, yelling and raising his arms up and she scurries off across the street and begins walking southbound.
After a number of minutes looking in her direction, going in and out of the house, Giuseppe gets into a GMC Savana van parked in the driveway. The lights of the van can be seen going on and the van screeches south out of the driveway heading southbound on Gamma Street.
Video surveillance captures the van travelling a short distance before stopping. Katherine is captured walking down the sidewalk. Moments later, the van lurches forward and accelerates towards her direction. The van can be seen mounting the sidewalk and driving forward.
“The van makes contact with Katherine Zollerano,” Frost told the jury in his opening address. “The only part not captured on video is the actual point of impact. Several moments after driving onto the sidewalk, the van reverses and completes a U-turn. He drives north back towards the residence at 233 Gamma,” Frost added.
In an agreed statement of facts read out to the jury, Frost said it is a fact that Giuseppe was the registered owner of the GMC Savana van and the sole driver that day. The identities of Giuseppe and Katherine Zollerano in the videos are also admitted.
After driving away from the scene, video surveillance shown to the jury showed Giuseppe heading north on Gamma Street towards a Petro Canada gas station on Evans Avenue. A short time later, he drives home and reverses into the driveway before the van comes to a stop.
Frost told jurors in his opening address, 911 still had not been called at this point.
A few minutes later, Giuseppe is seen walking south on Gamma Street before returning back home.
“He goes inside the Zollerano home and wakes up his daughter. He says he doesn’t know where her mom is and is going to try and find her,” Frost explained.
“It’s then, Giuseppe walks southbound back down the street to the area where he mounted the curb,” Frost said. After disappearing off surveillance video for several minutes, Frost says Giuseppe reemerges interacting with the witness who finds his wife.
Giuseppe Zollerano has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. The trial continues.