Alberta Appeals Court upholds grandfather’s manslaughter conviction

CALGARY – Alberta’s top court has upheld the conviction of a Calgary man found guilty of manslaughter in his grandson’s death.

A judge sentenced Allan Perdomo Lopez last year to nine years in prison.

His trial heard that he brought his grandson, Emilio Perdomo, from Mexico to Canada for what the boy’s mother thought would be a better life.

But the five-year-old died of a traumatic brain injury in 2015, five months after his arrival in Canada, and court heard evidence he had been subjected to months of physical abuse.

Perdomo Lopez sought an acquittal or a new trial on the grounds that the trial judge did not quash a direct indictment and that his charter rights to a timely trial were violated.

Three justices with the Alberta Court of Appeal unanimously decided that the lawyer for Perdomo Lopez did not demonstrate any error warranting intervention and dismissed his appeal.