A 28-year-old man who fatally attacked a customer at a restaurant and bar in Montérégie while mistakenly believing he was attacking a “pedophile” could face a maximum of 30 months in prison, according to the victim's relatives is a ridiculous punishment.
• Also read: He admits fatally beating a man he thought was a “pedophile.”
“The sentence proposed by the Crown leaves us devastated and angry, with a deep sense of injustice. With this inadequate punishment, our torment will last forever,” Ronald Webb’s son said Tuesday morning at the Saint-Hyacinthe courthouse.
The 65-year-old man died in May 2022 after being attacked by two men in the parking lot of the B-Sports resto-bar in Richelieu.
Photo courtesy of Obituary Canada
One of the defendants, Adam Jourdenais, confessed to his crimes last November and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
“I deserve prison. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart,” he said through tears to the victim’s relatives present in the courtroom.
Free gesture
On the evening of the tragedy, Mr. Webb approached the child of a co-defendant, Sébastien Jr. Vallée, who was in the restaurant bar.
Members of his group then began calling him an “old pedophile.” The victim has no history of such incidents.
Jourdenais and Vallée even pursued him to the back of the parking lot while Mr. Webb left the restaurant.
Vallée struck a first blow at Mr. Webb, who simultaneously backed away.
Jourdenais then punched Mr Webb in the face and knocked him to the ground. He ultimately died as a result of his fall.
“If only I could have held his hand in his final moments. Instead, he was forced to spend his final moments in a hostile environment, surrounded by people whose souls were consumed by hatred and cruelty,” the victim’s spouse mentioned in a letter read out in court.
Proportionate punishment
Crown prosecutor Rosalie Audette-Bourdeau presented the court with a 30-month prison sentence in the Adam Jourdenais case, taking into account the gratuitousness of the act, the vulnerability of the victim and the fact that he had not helped the victim after the victim the dispute.
In 2015, a Quebec court judge estimated that penalties for involuntary manslaughter resulting from blows to the head would range from two to four years in prison.
“The hardest part of my job is finding a fair verdict. We are not condemning a crime, but condemning a person for a crime in a particular context. Many factors must be taken into account,” Judge Marc-André Gauthier told people close to Mr. Webb.
The defense, for its part, hopes to be able to plead for a prison sentence of 15 months.
“It was an impulse, an isolated gesture. It is a decision he will regret for the rest of his life,” said Romy Elayoubi.
Judge Gauthier will announce his verdict next April.
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