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Homicide suspect Vincent Fong was in an abusive relationship along with his father that he couldn’t escape, his lawyer mentioned Monday in looking for a manslaughter conviction.
However the prosecution countered Fong merely hated his dad and deliberately killed him.
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Defence lawyer Katherin Beyak advised an 11-member Calgary Court docket of King’s Bench jury her shopper’s mental deficiencies and mental-health issues left him incapable of escaping his abusive father’s grip.
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However Crown lawyer Margot Engley urged Fong was no completely different than any youngsters who don’t wish to be berated by their mother and father.
“In some methods he comes throughout as fairly childlike,” Engley mentioned, in urging jurors to not have sympathy for Fong in figuring out their verdict.
Fong, 41, is charged with second-degree homicide within the Jan. 9, 2019, loss of life of his aged father.
Shu Kwan (Ken) Fong, 70, died of a number of stab wounds after his son pushed him down a set of stairs contained in the household’s northwest Calgary residence earlier than repeatedly stabbing him.
The youthful Fong admitted making an attempt to chop off his father’s head to make sure he was lifeless.
Engley famous the accused additionally advised jurors he needed to hit his father when his dad berated him that afternoon.
“That doesn’t appear to be the actions of any individual who’s scared,” Engley mentioned, of Fong’s testimony he feared his father.
However Beyak mentioned her shopper endured years of bodily and emotional abuse by the hands of his father and had no approach to escape him, even failing to discover a approach to transfer out of the household residence.
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“He finds himself in a scenario that he couldn’t get out of and so he responds by taking his dad’s life,” she mentioned.
Beyak mentioned the choice for jurors is to not decide whether or not Fong killed his father, however whether or not he had the intention crucial for homicide when he did so.
“We heard numerous proof . . . about Vincent, about his dad, about his household scenario and the horrific occasions of January 2019,” she mentioned.
“We take no problem with the truth that clearly Vincent killed his father,” Beyak mentioned.
“Nevertheless, we might ask you . . . that moderately than discovering him responsible of second-degree homicide that you simply discover him responsible of manslaughter.”
Beyak mentioned Fong’s autistic spectrum dysfunction, obsessive compulsive dysfunction and delicate mental deficiencies made him extra vulnerable to being victimized by his father.
She famous psychiatrist Dr. Oluyemisi Ajeh identified her shopper as having complicated post-traumatic stress dysfunction on account of the emotional and bodily abuse he skilled by the hands of his father.
“Given Mr. Fong’s difficulties that you simply’ve heard about . . . coupled with the abusive scenario that he discovered himself raised in, (I ask you to search out) that he didn’t kind the precise intent to commit homicide.”
However Engley argued by pushing his father down the steps, stabbing him and making an attempt to decapitate him, Fong confirmed his sole intent was to kill the sufferer.
Jurors will hear remaining directions from Justice Paul Jeffrey earlier than starting deliberations late Monday afternoon.
KMartin@postmedia.com
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