Victim impact statements from the family of a man fatally stabbed in the heart in March 2016 were read out in Kelowna court on Tuesday.
After a night of drinking as family members decorated for a baby shower, Chad Alphonse ended up in a fight with 26-year-old Waylon Jackson, who he fatally stabbed.
Alphonse was found guilty of manslaughter in a jury trial.
During sentencing on Tuesday, court heard how Jackson’s family has struggled with overwhelming grief since his death.
“I look at my granddaughter, and I see my son in her,” said Percy Jackson, the victim’s father. “It’s not fair. Today I live a parent’s worst nightmare.”
It’s not fair that Jackson’s daughter, who he knew for only a month, has to grow up without her dad and that he doesn’t get to walk her down the aisle, the family also wrote in victim impact statements.
Jackson’s mother is driving from Alberta to give her statement on Wednesday in person.
The Crown is asking for a custodial sentence of four to eight years.
The defence said it will ask for probation, which would mean Alphonse would serve his sentence out of jail under strict conditions.
He’s currently on bail and has completed a program for his alcoholism at Vision Quest, his lawyer Terry La Liberté said.
The defence is expected to present its case on Wednesday.