A Canadian man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for the 2021 killing of a 23-year-old Sikh from India in the country’s Nova Scotia province, media reports said.
Prabhjot Singh Katri was stabbed to death by 21-year-old Cameron James Prosper in an unprovoked attack outside an apartment building in Truro, the province’s capital, in September 2021.
A Nova Scotia judge sentenced Prosper to nine years in jail for manslaughter on Friday, The Global News reported on Saturday. Prosper was initially charged with second-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter during a court appearance on December 19, 2022.
Katri, who worked for a taxi service company as well as a few restaurants in Truro, came to Canada from India in 2017 to study. He was 23 when he died.
Prosper stabbed Katri in the neck on September 5, 2021, when the Sikh youth was leaving a friend’s apartment. Katri rushed back to his friend’s apartment, where they called the police. He was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead because of blood loss from the injuries.
In his decision, Justice Jeffrey Hunt said the attack was “made without rational cause” but without the intent to kill Katri, according to the report.
Apologizing to Katri’s family, Prosper said, “I am truly sorry, like, genuinely sorry about this. If I could go back in time, I would change it.” The maximum sentence for manslaughter in Canada is life in prison, while there is no minimum sentence for the crime unless a firearm is involved, the report said.
Hunt said the mitigating factors for Prosper’s 9-year term included his guilty plea and expression of remorse, which spared Katri’s loved ones from having to go through a trial.
Rajveer Kaur, Katri’s sister, said in an interview following the decision, that the nine-year sentence was not enough.
“We deserve more,” Kaur was quoted as saying in the report. “If someone’s life’s gone, nine years, (it’s) not comparable to that.” In September last year, India advised its nationals in Canada and those traveling to that country to exercise due caution and remain vigilant given the ”sharp increase in incidents of hate crimes, sectarian violence, and anti-India activities” there.
