By Canadian Press

Judge to decide guilt of Calgary man accused in grandson’s death

Aug 14, 2019 | 5:51 AM

CALGARY — A judge is expected to decide today whether a Calgary man is guilty of killing his young grandson.

Allan Perdomo Lopez is charged with manslaughter in the 2015 death of five-year-old Emilio Perdomo.

The trial heard that Emilio died of a blunt-force brain injury five months after he came to Canada from Mexico for a better life.

The Crown played a police recording from the family minivan of the accused praying in Spanish.

An English transcript of the intercept submitted by the prosecution said Perdomo Lopez was saying he “didn’t want to kill that child.”

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The man’s defence lawyer has said the remark was not a confession and that the Crown cherry-picked segments of the recordings to construct its story.

The prayer was one of 11 police recordings from the accused’s vehicle, home and phone that were presented as evidence.

Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Neufeld has been hearing the trial without a jury.

Court heard the boy was taken to hospital unconscious on July 9, 2015, and underwent emergency brain surgery. Emilio never woke up and died eight days later.

Prosecutor Shane Parker said in his closing arguments in June that the boy was brought to Canada for a better life, but instead was abused for weeks by his grandfather.

Court was shown photos of bruises and scars in various stages of healing all over Emilio’s body. The injuries were not visible in photos of the child when he was in Mexico or shortly after he arrived in Canada.

Defence lawyer Darren Mahoney said there are reasonable conclusions Neufeld could draw other than that Perdomo Lopez killed the boy, including that it was an accident or that someone else in the household could have assaulted him.

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press