Unless there are some real extenuating circumstances and the cat was not deliberately let outside, this is what can be expected to happen. Outdoor cats CAN live long lives but it's very rare. He put the cat in harm's way, it was killed, and the cat is the one that paid for it. So total YDI for doing that to a cat, UNLESS the cat snuck out/escaped/etc. Deliberately let outside? Well, he deserves to feel like shit for putting his cat at risk... and it DIED as a result.

wow, you're a real ass hole, do you realise you're at risk of dying every time you leave the house? would your parents deserve to feel like shit if you died because they let you out side? for the record, every cat I've owned has been allowed outside, they've all lived long happy lives

Yep. Had cats all my life. Out of my seven outdoor cats, only one of them never came home one day, and she was a horrible cat who was just as likely to claw your face off as look at you, so there's a good chance she just ran away because she hated us. So no, it's not "extremely rare" that outdoor cats live long happy lives. Why would feral cats be such a problem in the US if cats are too stupid to know how to take care of themselves outdoors? Surely if cats just threw themselves in front of cars all the time and were unable to avoid getting killed by higher predators, we wouldn't need those "catch, spay / neuter, and release" programs, because the feral cat problem would just take care of itself.