HUNTER: Six years later, still no justice for slain Fabio Sementilli

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Famed hairstylist Fabio Sementilli died in agony on the patio of his posh Los Angeles home on a sunny afternoon as he puffed on a cigar after work.

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He had been stabbed multiple times.

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That was on Jan. 23, 2017.

Six years later, the former Toronto man’s family remains on ice, waiting for a murder trial that seems like it’s never going to arrive.

LAPD detectives wasted little time in arresting Sementilli’s wife, Monica Crescentini, 50, formerly of Woodbridge, and her boyfriend, Robert Baker, 60, for the slaying they say was driven by sex and a fat insurance payout. The arrests came six months after the cold-blooded murder.

Ironically, the most recent trial date had been slated for Feb. 14 — Valentine’s Day. Now, it has once more been kicked down the road to June. Maybe.

Sources said that the prosecution is ready but the defence squad is dragging its heels.

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“Even Monica started crying because she wanted the trial to start sooner rather than later and it keeps getting postponed,” a source close to the Sementilli family said.

“Her council had to calm her and talk her down in court. She cried for herself, her life … not Fabio’s. It is all an act,” the source told The Toronto Sun.

And that included allegedly controlling the couple’s children, even as homicide detectives were tightening the noose. The source alleges — as do the cops — that it was Monica who masterminded the gruesome killing.

Monica and Baker are now rotting in LA County jails and, apparently, not having a great time of it. But the stylist’s family is in prison, too, an agonizing limbo that drags on and on without resolution. Without closure. Without justice.

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“Every day the family awaits any news, good or bad. They are closer because of it and they are stronger for it,” the source added.

The U.S. justice system does a significantly better job of addressing the feelings and wishes of homicide survivors. As we’ve seen in recent days, the Canadian justice system doesn’t appear to give a damn about victims.

One thing the source noted is that there are no credits for being in stir.

“I’ll never understand the U.S. justice system, but I do know that it’s not like Canada where every year served in pre-trial custody represents a year and a half,” the source said.

“In California, time served is time served. Judge Cohen is awarding the defence, every reasonable extension and motion, he’s extending every courtesy possibly to avoid a mistrial.”

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The source added: “So we wait patiently and although the days and years are passing by, in our hearts, we are still in 2017.”

The forecast for Los Angeles calls for warm temperatures of 21C and sunny skies. A day not unlike the one when Fabio Sementilli breathed his last.

The accused killers rot in county jails. On ice. Awaiting their fate.

And the machine grinds at a snail’s pace, determined to crush the humanity out of all those involved. An abstract exercise with real-world consequences.

In Albert Hammond Jr.’s 1972 smash It Never Rains in Southern California, the song tells the woeful tale of a young man discovering that the Golden State’s sun-kissed promise is bogus.

The Sementilli family can attest to that.

“It never rains in California

“But girl, don’t they warn ya?

“It pours, man, it pours.”

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@HunterTOSun