Photo courtesy Irvine Police Department
An Irvine man accused of gunning down his mother and brother at a family home pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a pair of murder charges.
Nolan Pascal Pillay, 37, is due back in court March 9 in Newport Beach March 9 for a pretrial hearing. He remains jailed without bail.
He is charged with two counts of murder with special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, making him eligible for the death penalty. Pillay also faces two sentencing-enhancing gun use allegations.
Police were called about 1 p.m. Jan. 31 to a home in the 14900 block of Crystal Circle, prompting a temporary lockdown of a nearby elementary school.
The bodies of 58-year-old Gloria Pillay and 35-year-old Arlyn Pillay were found inside, and the defendant was arrested without incident at the scene, according to Kim Mohr of the Irvine Police Department.
Neighbors said a man and his two sons had lived in the house for about 15 years, and a person could be heard yelling “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” around the time of the killings.
Pillay’s attorney, Jacqueline Goodman, said her client has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.
“He’s had these racing thoughts that would torture him,” Goodman said.
“It’s too early for me to know” about whether the defendant will seek an insanity defense, she said. “But knowing what I do about the seriousness of his mental illness I would not be surprised” if an insanity defense is mounted.
“His father and everyone in his family so far have been completely supportive and devastated,” Goodman said.”Everyone has remarked on how gentle and nonviolent he is.”
Many of his relatives were flying in from South Africa to support Pillay, according to the attorney.
Goodman said she hasn’t spoken with everyone in her client’s family, but of all the relatives she has been in contact with, no one “blames him, which I think is very remarkable.”
Pillay has a college degree and has tried to hold down a job, but his mental illness made that difficult, Goodman said. Pillay made a habit of making breakfast for his father and packing him a lunch for work, she said.
“He would do errands at home, so he was always desirous of being helpful, of pulling his weight, but he struggled with his mental illness to keep a job.”
Senior Deputy District Attorney Keith Burke, who filed the charges, declined comment.
–City News Service
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