A Calgary man convicted of killing his five-year-old grandson will learn his sentence Friday afternoon.

Allan Perdomo was found guilty of manslaughter last month.

Perdomo’s grandson, Emilio Perdomo, was unconscious when he arrived at the Alberta Children’s Hospital on July 9, 2015. Emilio died from a severe brain injury eight days later. 

The prosecution is arguing for a sentence of 12 to 15 years for Perdomo. Crown attorney Vicki Faulkner says Perdomo was in a position of trust over Emilio and had shown little to no remorse for causing the boy’s death. 

Faulkner also says Perdomo “spoke of Emilio and his death as a demon as something that needed to be cleansed from his home.”

Prosecutors also argued the harsh sentence is warranted because Emilio suffered abuse for months before his death and was isolated and lonely in the five months since moving to Canada from Mexico.

Defence lawyer Darren Mahoney said in court he believes the jail term for Perdomo should be no more than 10 years.

Just one victim impact statement is being heard by the court. Translated by a Spanish interpreter and read by Emilio’s mother in Mexico, Marisol Segovia-Alvarez, Emilio’s biological grandmother said the death of the boy “has devastated all of us physically and emotionally.”

The full translation of Segovia-Alvarez’s statement to the court is below…

“The impact was very difficult because as a family the loss of this boy has devastated all of us physically and emotionally. 

We see colleagues of Emilio growing up and we imagine how his life would have been - His dreams, his concerns and his needs 

Emilio was educated with values and it was taught to him that in his life he always had to be of service and to help anybody who would need it. 

Time goes by and we feel his absence every time more and more. We miss him very months and excuse us as we shed some tears 

We always remember his grateful ways and his mischief that was proper of his age - that makes us feel nostalgic and it makes us feel happy at the same time. 

Emilio liked classical and children’s music. His favourite songs were Viva La Vida of ColdPlay and In The End by Linkin Park. 

Emilio was a very good companion with his brothers and he liked to listen to music with them. He was learning English vocabulary. He was a a very good friend of his teachers and also the janitor of the school, the man who sold ice cream and the lady who sold candy. 

He would always say hi to everyone in the street. He told his mother when he grew up he was going to buy her a house. He made his family very happy. 

I am sending you a poem that I sent to Emilio, if you can include this one in the victim impact statement. 

In my world full of stars there’s one in particular that showed up. 

It was a falling star that lightened my sky like a rainbow, after the rain and the sun. 

However his light went very quickly through me. He left me a terrible emptiness. It’s an emptiness that other stars shed light on, but this one I cannot forget.”

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