Calgary man convicted in grandson's death gets 9-year sentence

A Calgary man who fatally beat his young grandson has been sentenced to nine years in prison. 

Allan Perdomo Lopez, 60, was found guilty of manslaughter last month in the 2015 death of five-year-old Emilio Perdomo.

Queen's Bench Justice Richard Neufeld heard Emilio's mother sent him from Mexico to Canada, where she believed he would have a better life, with a plan to eventually join her son.

Instead, Emilio suffered months of horrific abuse, and five months after he arrived in Calgary, Emilio died from a traumatic brain injury. Photos of the boy's body in hospital show the five-year-old was in "appalling" condition, said Neufeld.

"This was the last in a series of assaults," Neufeld told the court Friday.

He then addressed Perdomo Lopez directly.

"While exact details of the fatal assault will remain unknown, you admitted to your god to having killed Emilio and you did so against a history of child abuse within your household." 

Bruises and scars covered Emilio's body from his feet to his face and head. 

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Prosecutors Shane Parker and Vicki Faulkner proposed a prison sentence of 12 to 15 years, while defence lawyer Darren Mahoney asked Neufeld to consider a term of six to eight years.

Mahoney argued Emilio was killed by single blow and said the Crown hadn't proven Perdomo Lopez was responsible for the earlier abuse suffered by the boy.

During the trial, the judge heard evidence that Perdomo Lopez cut off contact between Emilio and his family in Mexico shortly after the boy's arrival.

In conversations recorded by police, Perdomo Lopez referred to Emilio as an "ungrateful demon" whose spirit needed to be cleansed from the family's home. 

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