Jagpreet Singh, a 51-year-old Indian national, has been convicted of second-degree murder for the fatal stabbing of his wife, Balwinder Kaur, 41, in Abbotsford, British Columbia, just six days after he landed in Canada. The verdict was delivered by the B.C. Supreme Court.
Details of the Killing
Kaur was stabbed through the heart and jugular vein, and her body was discovered with multiple stab wounds in her basement suite in mid-March 2024. Singh and Kaur had been married for over 20 years and had two children who grew up in India. Their daughter moved to Canada to attend university, and Kaur had arrived in Canada in 2022 to assist her.
On the night of the killing, the couple visited a gurdwara and a mall, returning home around 9:30 p.m. The prosecution estimated that Kaur was stabbed within an hour of their return.
Trial Testimony and Evidence
During the trial, Singh testified that a verbal argument turned physical. He claimed he punched Kaur in the face, and when she went to the kitchen, he followed to apologize. According to Singh, Kaur brandished a knife, which he disarmed and placed back in a drawer. He alleged she then took the knife again, and during a second attempt to disarm her, the knife contacted his shoulder, making him angry. Singh stated that in the struggle, he accidentally poked her in the stomach and had no memory of inflicting fatal injuries.
However, an autopsy revealed that Kaur died from significant blood loss due to seven stab wounds to her neck and chest. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrea Ormiston noted that Singh did not mention his wife brandishing a knife when speaking to police; instead, he claimed he did not know what happened after the argument. Two witnesses testified that Singh told them he had killed Kaur, with one witness quoting him as saying, “I finished her off because she was deceiving me.”
Court Ruling
Justice Ormiston deemed Singh’s testimony “untrustworthy and unreliable,” ruling that it could not raise reasonable doubt about murderous intent or provocation. She stated, “There is no basis to find that Mr. Singh perpetrated an unremembered attack on Ms. Kaur.” Defence counsel had argued for manslaughter, suggesting Singh blacked out with rage, but the court rejected this.
Singh’s conviction marks a tragic end to a case involving domestic violence and a newly arrived immigrant. The sentencing hearing is scheduled for a later date.
