Indo-Canadian sentenced to life in prison for stabbing wife to death

Toronto, Feb 23: A 40-year-old Indian-origin man has been sentenced to life in prison for stabbing his wife to death at their home in Canada's British Columbia province in 2022.

Navinder Gill pleaded guilty in June last year to the second-degree murder of his wife Harpreet Kaur Gill, a 40-year-old teacher and a mother of three children.

He has been sentenced with no parole eligibility for 10 years, British Columbia's homicide investigation team announced on Thursday (local time).

"Incidents of intimate partner violence have a profound effect on families and communities," Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) spokesperson Sergeant Timothy Pierotti in a statement.

“We’re thankful for the great work being done by Surrey RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) Victim Services and the Ministry of Children and Family Development who continue to support the family and the community,” Pierotti added.

Police found Harpreet critically injured from multiple stab wounds at their home in the 12700-block of 66th Avenue in Surrey on December 7, 2022.

While she succumbed to her injuries in the hospital, Navinder was taken into custody on December 15 by the IHIT, and was charged the next day with the second-degree murder of his wife.

During a court hearing last year, Navinder's lawyer said that his client understands he made a mistake.

"He was very remorseful in court today. It's a very tragic incident, that's all I can say," lawyer Gagan Nahal had said.

According to a GoFundMe statement, Harpreet's parents and her brother reside in India and are "devastated and finding it incredibly difficult to bear the loss of their beautiful daughter and sister."

It was reported earlier that Harpreet's parents were concerned about the future of their grandchildren -- all under the age of 10 -- and seeking legal advice regarding their custody.

In May last year, another Indo-Canadian mother of four, Davinder Kaur, was stabbed to death by her husband Nav Nishan Singh in Sparrow Park, Brampton.

Cases of domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence and conjugal violence, are not rare in Canada.

In 2021, Statistics Canada recorded 788 homicide victims; of those, 90 were killed by an intimate partner.