Friday, June 15, 2007

6 YEARS FOR BEATING 2 INDO CANDIAN MEN TO DEATH

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has sentenced a 17-year-old boy to six years in prison for his part in the vicious beatings of two Indo-Canadian seniors in Surrey's Bear Creek Park in July 2005. The youth was found guilty of manslaughter, aggravated assault and robbery after he and another teen attacked the two elderly men with baseball bats in two separate attacks. Shingara Singh Thandi, 76, died of his injuries three weeks later in hospital. Mewa Singh Bains, 83, died of a stroke a month after the brutal attack. The other teen was sentenced to 3 years in April this year.
In delivering his sentence at the New Westminster courthouse on Thursday, Justice William Grist said he considered the extreme youth of the boy, even though he's been sentenced as an adult. But the judge said he also considered the magnitude of the crime, noting that both seniors died following the beatings. The youth, who has been in custody for 23 months, will now have to serve another 49 months. The Crown had asked for a seven-year sentence.
Families of the victims are not happy with the sentence. Mewa Singh Bains' son Dalvinder Bains said the sentence is too less and doesn't give a strong message to other youngsters against committing such a gruesome crime. Jhalmal Thandi, Shingara Singh Thandi's son, said the sentence wasn't decided in accordance to the crime.

Thursday, June 7, 2007

RANDHAWA GETS 12 YEARS FOR KIDNAPPING

A Surrey man who kidnapped a 22-year-old woman for ransom has been given 12 years and two months in jail for the January abduction of a Surrey businessman’s daughter. Amandeep Randhawa, 26 was sentenced today. He’d earlier pleaded guilty to kidnapping and robbery.
Surrey Provincial Court judge Peder Gulbransen also imposed a 10-year ban on owning firearms. Randhawa’s co-accused, Gurpreet Hundal, 33, is scheduled to begin a B.C. Supreme Court trial in New Westminster on Sept. 17 on charges of assault causing bodily harm, kidnapping with intent to hold for ransom, unlawful confinement, extortion and robbery.
Both men were arrested after the adult daughter of Surrey entrepreneur Jeet Jaswal was kidnapped and held for ransom by two abductors who demanded what RCMP described as “a large sum of money” from her family. It was several hours before she was freed. Jaswal owns MJM Furniture Showcase, a chain that describes itself as “one of the largest independent furniture stores in the Lower Mainland of B.C.” with outlets in Surrey, Coquitlam and Abbotsford.