Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile

[spaminator]

Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile
Michael Nguyen, QMI Agency
First posted: Friday, October 18, 2013 11:40 AM EDT | Updated: Friday, October 18, 2013 11:44 AM EDT
MONTREAL - The Crown wants a six-year prison sentence for a 21-year-old man who killed a Montreal father with a single punch.
The victim, Iqbal Ahmed, was simply trying to bring his wayward teen daughter home but other teens attacked him, thinking he was a pedophile.
A judge will decide Francis Belanger's fate in December following sentencing hearings that ended this week.
Ahmed, who was in his fifties, had followed his teen daughter through south-end Montreal on April 8, 2011, believing she had gone out with two friends without permission.
The friends joined a larger group of teens and said a pedophile was chasing them.
Ahmed tried to flee but was accosted by two people, including Francis Belanger, who punched him without warning. Ahmed died and Belanger was arrested and later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
As his relatives sat in the public gallery Thursday, Belanger told the court he regretted his actions.
"I learned from my mistakes," he said in a timid voice, reading from a prepared statement.
The Crown wants Belanger to be sentenced to six years in prison. The defence asked Judge Linda Despots for two years less a day to be served in the community.
Lawyer Clemente Monterosso told the court Thursday that his client has expressed "sincere remorse" and "empathy for the victim."
"It's closer to an accident than a murder," Monterosso argued.
But Crown attorney Jean Sebastien Bussieres pointed out that Belanger has been charged three times with violating bail conditions since his arrest.
Father killed with one punch after being mistaken for a pedophile | Canada | News | Toronto Sun

wouldn't the daughter have shouted, 'omg, its dad!'?

 

[SLM]

What about the "friends" who instigated the thing by telling the crowd a pedophile was after them?

 

[damngrumpy]

How do we know she was a wayward daughter she might be a normal Canadian teen.
People from other cultures don't allow their kids to be kids. That was the first problem.
After that the punch was not intended to kill anyone or it would have been a worse
situation. It was a mistake a real mistake because the person who did the hitting did
think they were protecting someone from harm Now those who knew what they said
was not true they should face the real music here.

 

[WLDB]

How do we know she was a wayward daughter she might be a normal Canadian teen.
People from other cultures don't allow their kids to be kids. That was the first problem.
After that the punch was not intended to kill anyone or it would have been a worse
situation.

From other cultures? Putting restrictions on when teens can go out and with who seems to be pretty universal. I experienced that as did my friends and parents.

As for the punch not being meant to kill - true. Thats why it was a manslaughter charge and not murder.

The people who lied thereby leading to this preventable death should face some sort of consequences for their actions as well.