In Wednesday’s sentencing of 52-year-old Anthony F. Pereira II for fatally shooting his 66-year-old mother, Barbara, in the face and holding another woman hostage at his Maili home in June 2016, the judge summed up what appeared to be at the root of his actions:

“He let his marital issues consume him, leading him to self-medicate with drugs and alcohol,” Circuit Judge Rowena Somerville said. She handed down the guilty verdict June 25 after hearing testimony during a jury-waived trial, which Pereira opted for at the last minute.

Somerville called his actions “callous and heinous” and sentenced the former Oahu Community Correctional Center training sergeant to life in prison with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder, 20 years for use of a firearm in the commission of a separate felony, and five years each for first-degree terroristic threatening and third-degree dangerous drug promotion, to run concurrently.

The kidnapping charge for shooting his mother in the leg and not allowing her to leave and a firearm charge were merged with the murder charge because they were part of a continuing course of conduct that led to the murder.

“What defendant has done is absolutely reprehensible and senseless,” the judge said. “He’s taken away a mother and a grandmother.”

The judge noted Pereira’s letters of support from his wife and others, but said Pereira cannot be placed on probation or supervised release.

His court-appointed attorney, Harrison Kiehm, unsuccessfully tried to prove Pereira had an extreme mental or emotional disturbance that caused him to kill his mother, and was not guilty of murder but of manslaughter, punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Much of Pereira’s personal life was laid bare during the trial. He told the court that his wife, April, was having an affair with his close friend, a co-worker at the Department of Public Safety. And they had financial problems because she failed to pay the mortgage and other bills.

She also testified and admitted to her infidelity. She said Pereira turned to illicit drugs and that he had Crohn’s disease and was taking high doses of steroids.

Pereira denied his use of drugs and any memory of telling responding police officers on June 10, 2016, he had been drinking and taking drugs when they found him and his mother’s body at his home.

Pereira testified he needed someone to talk to and turned to Dodie Guzman, a Waianae woman he met at a mutual friend’s house, because he was distraught that he had no one to talk to over his wife’s affair.

He brought Guzman to his house on June 8, 2016, told her that he was just going in to pick something up, invited her in, then padlocked the gate and never allowed her to leave, Guzman testified.

Guzman said Pereira seemed OK at first, needing to talk and asking her to stay. She said his wife’s bridal gown was hanging prominently in the house.

She said Pereira’s mother came to visit her son, and Pereira accused her of doing something to his wife and daughter because he saw a photo on his mother’s cellphone.

Kiehm said the “scary” photo was what drove him to have this mental disturbance, thinking his mother harmed his wife and daughter, and were possibly dead.

The deputy prosecutor pointed out he spoke by phone to his wife and daughter on June 9, 2016.

Guzman said Pereira kept asking her what she thought of the photo, and she said that it might have looked as if they were injured because the phone was damaged, and she tried to keep him calm.

The photo was not part of the evidence at trial.

Guzman recounted how Pereira shot his mother in the leg when she tried to leave, terrorized Guzman by shooting so close to her head that she felt the bullet whiz past.

She tried to get Pereira to allow his mother to receive medical treatment for her gunshot wound, but he refused.

When he finally agreed, Guzman fled in his truck to the police station.

Meanwhile, Pereira shot his mother in the head, killing her.

The judge believed Guzman and found no reasonable explanation of why he shot his mother and no evidence he was suffering from an emotional or mental disturbance.

Deputy Prosecutor Molly O’Neill said at sentencing that Pereira “displayed a startling lack of accountability” over killing his mother, although he might have displayed some sadness.

She said his mother was the only one at the time who came around, “the only one through her mother’s love, to show defendant any kind of loyalty in that moment.”

Pereira “has not owned up to what got him there.”

O’Neill also said: “During trial, the way that defendant spoke about Dodie Guzman, the way that he spoke about the interaction, the disdain in his voice, almost hate for her. What she went through is horrifying, and what she is continuing to go through over the last eight years in preparing for trial is just terrifying.

“She’s been terrified this entire time,” O’Neill said.

Guzman shared with O’Neill and victim’s advocates that every time an “unknown number would pop up on her phone, it would send her into a panic.”

“She’s gone through countless hours of therapy, left her home, left the island and it’s changed the course of her life.”

O’Neill said the state finds his lack of accountability “really troubling” and questions whether he will ever be rehabilitated.

Pereira spoke confidently before the sentence was read, telling his family that what O’Neill said is not true. “I love my mom. I love her with all my heart. As I stated in the letter, I would eat that bullet in a heartbeat … just to bring her back.”

Pereira appeared happy to see his family, including some of his grandchildren who sat behind him in the gallery, and said their goodbyes before he was taken into custody to serve his prison sentence.

On the opposite side of the courtroom sat his sister, and Pereira told her he loved her, and that he loved their mother.

She whispered under her breath, “Stop.”

“I want you in my life,” he said flatly. “I’m sorry.”

“You have nieces and nephews over here that need their auntie,” he said in a lecturing tone.

Outside the courtroom, she said: “Justice was served.”

April Pereira said her husband loved his mother but he killed her “because he wasn’t himself,” and blames the drugs he took.

His daughter, Autumn Pereira, said her grandmother was “very family oriented. Every time we had a family gathering, she loved to cook.” Her specialties were pastele stew and gandule rice, she said.

She said her grandmother loved talking to her grandkids every morning at breakfast.