A Nova Scotia judge has sentenced a 21-year-old man to nine years in prison for killing Prabhjot Singh Katri, who was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack outside an apartment building in Truro, N.S., in 2021.
Cameron James Prosper of Pictou Landing First Nation was initially charged with second-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter during a court appearance on Dec. 19, 2022.
In his decision Friday, Justice Jeffrey Hunt said the attack was “made without rational cause,” but without intent to kill Katri. He said the case has been a “long and very difficult process for so many people.”
“The family of the deceased has been devastated by his senseless death,” he said. “An entire community was left shocked and hurting.”
Hunt said the sentence imposed must be proportionate to the seriousness of the offence and the accused’s moral culpability. Manslaughter has one of the “widest spectrums of culpability,” he said, with cases of manslaughter ranging from “near accidents” to “near murder.”
The maximum sentence for manslaughter is life in prison, and there is no minimum sentence for manslaughter unless a firearm is involved.
Hunt said mitigating factors included Prosper’s guilty plea and expression of remorse, which spared Katri’s loved ones of having to go through a trial.
Aggravating factors include the high level of victim impact — “the family has suffered terribly” — and the fact that Katri was unarmed and not aggressive. Prosper was also on a release order at the time.
‘Why did you do it?’
Family members and supporters of both Katri and Prosper were present for the hearing.
In a community victim impact statement, Maritime Sikh Society president Simardeep Kaur Hundal spoke of the immense loss being felt by Katri’s family and the Sikh community.
She described the killing as a “nightmare for us all.”
Hundal also delivered a victim impact statement on behalf of Katri’s mother, who said she traveled from India in the hopes justice would be served. She described her son, a young student and taxi driver, as “innocent, and a very gentle person.”
“I want to ask, why did you do it?” she said.
“Because of your actions … I will never be able to see his wedding, welcome his bride in my home, play with my grandchildren.
“Because of you, my son will not be here.”
Katri’s sister also gave a victim impact statement, breaking into tears and hugging her mother afterward. “My whole life is destroyed,” she said.
Crown prosecutor Thomas Kayter said “there is no accounting here today that will restore their loss.”
“This family and this community have been deeply impacted, tragically impacted, and totally impacted,” he said.
Prosper apologized to Katri’s family.
“I am truly sorry, like, genuinely sorry about this,” he said. “If I could go back in time I would change it.”
Defence lawyer Alexander MacKillop took note of Prosper’s cultural assessment reports, which Canadian courts can request when considering sentences for offenders of Black and Indigenous ancestry.
Prosper, who has both African Nova Scotian and Indigenous ancestry, lived a “horrendous life” where he faced “tremendous trauma,” said MacKillop.
He said throughout his young life, Prosper has faced racism, abuse, suicidal thoughts, poverty, addiction and unemployment. He was also a former child in care and has been dealing with the impacts of generational trauma.
“In every single turn in Prosper’s life he’s been failed by the system, by society. He had no hope at all,” MacKillop said, adding that Prosper’s sentence should focus on rehabilitating him.
In his sentencing, the judge said it was “impossible not to be struck by the history of trauma and intergenerational harm” laid bare in the reports.
Hunt acknowledged the focus on Prosper’s “sad and challenging” background, but said this does not take away the pain of Katri’s loved ones.
“Your hurt and your loss will not go away … and we do not lose sight of that reality,” said Hunt.
The defence and Crown made a joint sentence recommendation of eight to 12 years. Though Prosper was sentenced to nine years, he will receive a remand credit of 910 days.
‘No winners’
In an interview following the decision, Rajveer Kaur, Katri’s sister, said the nine-year sentence was not enough.
“We deserve more,” Kaur said. “If someone’s life’s gone, nine years, (it’s) not comparable to that.”
She said she understands Prosper’s difficult life circumstances, but said that doesn’t “give my brother back.”
“We lost my brother for my whole life, and we have to live without (him,)” Kaur said. “He was an innocent person, happy person, always (trying) to make everybody happy. In just one second, somebody can do that. It’s hard to describe.”
Kayter, the Crown lawyer, said the sentence was “reasoned and well-considered,” but acknowledged that in some ways, it was “not enough.”
“Certainly, it’s not enough for the family, it’s not enough for the Crown, but it’s a number that’s fit, fair, and just — consistent with the facts and principles of sentencing as they apply individually to Mr. Prosper,” he said.
“There’s no winners today … but justice was done today, and there would be no meaningful outcome today that would sufficiently account for the loss of the Singh-Katri family, but today’s closure.”
Defence lawyer Malcolm Jeffcock declined to say how Prosper reacted to the decision. He said the sentencing recommendation came from a thorough review of case law and background.
“There’s a clear distinction in law between an intentional taking of a live and a non-intentional taking of a life, and this was a non-intentional taking of a life,” he said.
Jeffcock was critical of early speculation that the crime was motivated by hate and racism, when there was no evidence to indicate it was.
“This is not a hate crime,” he said. “It’s a bit of an irresponsible step to report that it was in the early days of this incident.”
Motive unclear
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Prosper stabbed Katri, a 23-year-old student from India, in the neck shortly after 2 a.m. on Sept. 5, 2021, as the victim was walking to his car after leaving a friend’s apartment at 494 Robie St. in Truro.
Prosper and Katri were not known to each other and the motive is unclear. Kayter, the Crown lawyer, said there is no evidence the stabbing was motivated by hate or racism.
“There was no history of conflict or animosity between them,” he said, reading an agreed statement of facts during Friday’s hearing.
The court heard that Prosper had been outside the apartment building with Dylan Robert MacDonald, 23, of Valley, N.S., when Katri left his friend’s apartment to go home. Earlier in the evening, Prosper and MacDonald had been drinking and doing drugs with a friend who lived in the building.
Kayter said “it was by operation of pure chance” that the three men were in the parking lot at the same time.
After Prosper stabbed Katri, the victim ran back to his friend’s apartment, and his friends called the police. Katri was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead shortly after 3 a.m. The cause of death was blood loss from the injuries he sustained.
Prosper and MacDonald fled the scene in MacDonald’s white Honda Civic, which Katri’s friends recognized as it had been at the apartment building before.
Police found the car that evening but lost it in an ensuing police chase. However, MacDonald returned to the crime scene shortly after 5 a.m. that same morning to retrieve alcohol and drugs from the apartment they were visiting, where he was arrested.
MacDonald was initially charged with being an accessory to murder after the fact, driving to evade police, two counts of dangerous driving and obstruction of justice. He pleaded guilty to the obstruction charge and one count of dangerous driving in February 2023 and the Crown withdrew the remaining charges.
On May 8, he received a 14-month conditional sentence order and 12 months probation for obstructing justice, a $1,000 fine, a one-year license suspension, and a one-year vehicle prohibition order for dangerous driving.
A third man, Marcus Denny, who lived in the same building as Katri’s friends and whose apartment Prosper and MacDonald had visited prior to the stabbing, was also charged with accessory to murder after the fact, but the Crown later withdrew the charge due to the low prospect of conviction.
In May 2022, Denny pleaded guilty to a related public mischief charge and was sentenced to 45 days of secure custody, which was deemed served due to time spent on remand.
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