Maybe.
The karma answer is still theoretical. There is a truth for why this happened. But I don't think punishment/classroom lesson for past actions is the reason. There is something else at work here. And I will eventually get to the bottom of it, if it takes an eternity.
The karma answer could satisfy in a logical manner your doubts. As other answers maybe could be as well. I found that the karma answer is far more powerful than other theoretical models to explain with sheer logic and degree of probability the events unfolding in this realm.
Of course, there might be other logical answers, in your case it might have been a more or less random encounter with a victim, a good, naive man and a predator, a callous, evil materialistic man who does not mind inflicting pain on others . This answer may be logical since in this earthly plane good and evil souls coexist.
Mccoy since your answer shows a cause and effect relationship that has its basis in physics and it is the answer given by all spiritual Masters I find it much more tenable. It is known as ‘causality’; in physics and karma in spiritual terms. Interestingly enough, Paramahansa Yogananda gives another cause / effect relationship in spiritual practice. If you practices one Kriya properly it absolves you of one year of natural evolution. Or in other terms the causes are wiped out so you have to face less and less effects of causes initiated in this and other incarnations.
To attempt to know all the causes initiated in this and thousands of past lives, it is necessary to have a Masters awareness which we are attempting to accomplish in our efforts here in this incarnation and perhaps many other incarnations on earth. Pain has been the prod to remembrance in my life and many personal experiences seem unjustified looking at things that have happened to me in this life. Yet, at no time have I turned my back at the explanation for such events in the lives and explanations of the Masters. And by their grace we can get rid of much of what we have created in our actions and create new actions through Kriya and our sadhana to reap effects that we would rather see manifest.
Galatians 6:7 King James Version 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
https://www.newscientist.com/definition/causality/
