Who were the real bums?

The victim, Paul Croutch, had simply been sleeping on a park bench, when the three men, charged in the deadly assault, walked over and attacked him, in an attempt (according to witnesses) to rid "their" park of "bums". The prosecution stated that Croutch was punched and kicked so hard that his body landed almost a metre behind the bench where he was sleeping.

There is something very repugnant and downright sickening about the idea of someone attacking an innocent sleeping man simply because he was homeless, but add to that the fact that the perpetrators were young men that were supposed to be trained combat soldiers, and to borrow from the U.S. military motto, to be "the best that they could be" and the incident is just plain deplorable.

Last week, the trial came to an abrupt end when two of those men pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and the third to a lesser charge of being an accessory after the fact. A quick search of legal terms indicates that murder requires either the intent to kill or a state of malice, which may involve an unintentional killing but with a willful disregard for life.

Manslaughter, on the other hand, describes cases where the defendant may have an intent to cause death or serious injury, but the potential liability for the person is mitigated by the circumstances or the state of mind, i.e. provocation, self-defense, heat of passion or diminished responsibility due to a mental breakdown. Can someone tell us in which categories of manslaughter exactly do these men fall under?

They partied, they got drunk on alcohol and perceived power and armed with nothing but their prejudices about homeless people and their brute strength, they went out to "make the world a better place" (insert sarcasm here). What easier target for their venom than a mentally and physically ill older man who was SLEEPING on a bench and who, by all accounts, never had the chance to even lift a finger to defend himself?

It's appalling that Croutch (a former journalist and family man), whose only crime was suffering from mental illness, ends up viciously beaten to death, while these young people who should have known better, are literally getting away with murder right now. Sentencing isn't till April 30, but judging by how deplorable the Canadian legal system is in actually dispensing any justice, we shouldn't be holding our breath that they'll be given anything significant.

Paul Croutch may have just been another homeless bum to these three men, but he was a human being who deserved better than what he got; first from them and now –most likely- from our legal system.