A 10-year-old youngster gave an emotional victim impact statement in court, sending a strong message to his father’s killer.
According to the Hartford Courant, Fernando “Chino” Rivera’s 10-year-old son Nico paid tribute to his father during the sentencing of Rivera’s killer, Terrence Johnson, in Superior Court in Milford, Connecticut on Tuesday, October 7.
According to the Hartford Courier and New Haven Register, Rivera, 35, was attacked from behind by Johnson, 18, on October 31, 2020, while standing on a sidewalk at the corner of Washington Avenue and Elm Street in West Haven.
Rivera died at Yale New Haven Hospital on November 1, 2020, according to his obituary.
“I didn’t have enough time [with dad]… My father deserves to stay. “My dad was taken from me too soon,” Niko said in a video message at the sentencing, according to the Haven Register.
The small kid said, “I wish he would go away and stay in jail for 100 years,” before telling the court that he wanted his father “to know I miss him so much.”
Niko was waiting for his father to return home so they could go trick-or-treating together when Rivera was slain.
PEOPLE contacted the Superior Court and West Haven Police Department for comment.
Nico’s mother, Lindsee Baez, Rivera’s fiancée, said before the sentence that their kid had only recently learned of his father’s attack. Nico was only five years old when the tragedy occurred, and his family informed him that his father had died of a “boo boo.”
“He was truly my best friend,” Baez said of her 17-year relationship. “We grew up together, from our teenage years into adulthood.”
She continued, “The road was bumpy along the way, but we never gave up on each other.” We chose our family every day, and that decision made him very happy.”
Johnson was sentenced to 38 years in jail on Tuesday after accepting a plea agreement.
“You stole a life, dreams, and love, and no sentence can ever undo the damage you caused,” Baez said Johnson in court.
