Brampton man convicted of murder after stabbing wife, mother-in-law during argument over celebration for infant son

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Brampton man convicted of murder after stabbing wife, mother-in-law during argument over celebration for infant son

Jason Miller

Toronto Star

Monday, October 18, 2021

 

 

A Brampton man has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years after he was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for viciously beating and stabbing his wife and mother-in-law to death when the trio got embroiled in an argument over a celebration for his infant son, on Jan. 12, 2018.

Superior Court Justice Kofi Barnes said Dalwinder Singh got angry after discovering that both women were organizing a family gathering to celebrate his and his wife’s son without his knowledge, triggering an argument that spiralled into a “series of horrifying and tragic events.”

Within an 11 minute span, Singh stabbed and killed Baljit Thandi, 32, and her 60-year-old mother, Avtar Kaur, Barnes said on Friday, while delivering his verdict and sentencing inside a Brampton courthouse, as Singh looked on from the prisoners box.

Both life sentences will run concurrent.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” Barnes said. “Mr. Singh’s actions were senseless, shocking and tragic.”

When police arrived at the home in the Starhill Crescent and Arabia Gate area at around 10:45 p.m. on the day of the murders, they found Singh holding the baby inside the home, with the lifeless bodies of the infant’s grandmother and mother lying on the bloodied kitchen floor.

Thandi sustained more than 70 injuries including several stab wounds to the chest, neck, head and face, according to evidence presented at trial, while Kaur sustained more than 40 such injuries.

The court heard that the couple were arguing that night because Singh was angry about the financial burden and pressure from hosting dozens of people for the Lohri festivities his wife was planning without his approval for the following day.

Singh told police in a video statement that he “felt betrayed” and insulted by his wife and her mother, and was fed up with his mother-in-law’s interference, over what was supposed to be joyous Lohri festivities to celebrate the birth of the couple’s son.

In making its case, the Crown said Singh then attacked the women in an upstairs bedroom of the residence. He forcibly dragged them to the kitchen where the attack continued.

Minutes after killing both women and just before his arrest at the family home that night, Singh, then 29, told family friends, via phone, “I killed them both. I couldn’t tolerate anymore. I was tired of their lying.”

Singh’s defence counsel sought a verdict of manslaughter suggesting that Singh did not intend to commit murder.

The Crown said Singh attempted to cover his tracks by claiming that he was attacked by both women and had to defend himself. He then attempted to clean up and place a knife in his dead wife’s hand and another next to his mother-in-law to support the ruse that they had killed each other, but the wounds sustained by both women show that they were the ones trying to defend themselves.

The court heard the couple married in 2016 and hit a rocky patch in their relationship in the summer of 2017, when Singh was charged with assaulting his wife, who had just given birth to their son.

At the time of the killings, Singh was in breach of court orders that stipulated that he not be around his wife or live at the residence.

Jason Miller is a Toronto-based reporter for the Star covering crime and justice in the Peel Region.