Teen who killed Grant De Patie wants parole
Email
Print
Letter to Editor
Share
Updated: November 05, 2009 1:31 PM
The teenager who dragged Grant De Patie to his death four years ago wants to be released from prison.
Darnell Darcy Pratt was 16 in March 2005 when, while driving a stolen car, he struck De Patie when the gas station attendant tried to stop him fleeing an Esso station in Maple Ridge without paying for gas.
Pratt fled in the car, dragging 24-year-old De Patie under it for 7.5 kilometres.
Now, 19, Pratt is eligible for full parole.
A hearing to determine if he is suitable for release is scheduled for next week at a federal prison in Mission.
Grant De Patie's father Doug, a Surrey resident, will speak at the hearing and has asked the board to keep Pratt in prison.
Originally charged with second degree murder, Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced in May 2006 as an adult to nine years minus time served, for a total of seven years and three months in prison.
In April 2007, the B.C. Court of Appeal reduced the nine-year sentence to seven years, making the sentence, after credit for time served, five years and 10 months.
v2
