Migrant worker sentenced for killing man in Wilmot Township
Alex Lopez-Noriega was sentenced to more than eight years in prison on Tuesday, for the killing of a fellow migrant worker at a Wilmot Township farm in 2020.
An agreed statement of facts said Lopez-Noriega and his co-worker Luis Gabriel Cahuec Morán were drinking together on July 28, 2020, when a fight broke out. Surveillance video from the farm shows Lopez-Noriega following Cahuec Morán into a cornfield around 8:54 p.m. The video does not show anyone leaving the cornfield where Cahuec Morán was found dead early the next morning.
Last November, Lopez-Noriega pleaded guilty to manslaughter. On Tuesday, Justice Karey Katzsch handed Lopez-Noriega an eight-and-a-half-year sentence, which, when factoring in credit for time served, means he’ll spend six more years behind bars.
The crown was seeking a 10-year sentence, while the defence asked for six years.
"I would've liked a slightly lower sentence, but the judge effectively split the difference and came down the middle," said defence attorney Liam O'Connor, who claimed his client has been extremely remorseful since the incident. "He has always wanted to repay society and repay his debt, and I think this is a just result at the end."
O'Connor said the systemic challenges that migrant workers face should have been factored into the decision.
"Look, we as Canadians can't understand what it's like to come from another country and try to live here and have to send money back, it's a great hardship," O'Connor said. "At the end of the day, a terrible tragedy for both parties. One man will never go home to his children and one man will be away from his children for years."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.