A Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer jointly proposed a conditional discharge and 12-month probation for a permanent resident from India who threatened to kill his estranged wife in Prince George.
But a judge in Prince George Provincial Court had second thoughts.
Ramandeep Singh, 28, appeared before Judge David Simpkin on Nov. 29 and changed his plea to guilty.
The court heard that on Sept. 25, 2023, Singh followed the woman to a Dollarama store and demanded she come home after moving out the previous month. She told Singh to speak to her parents. Singh kept walking with her and threatened to kill her if she did not return to live with him. He also threatened to kill himself.
Under a conditional discharge, Singh would have no criminal record if he obeys the law and satisfies a judge’s terms and conditions, including not contacting or being in the vicinity of the victim.
But after hearing the victim’s impact statement, Simpkin did not accept the joint submission from Crown prosecutor Simran Rai and Singh’s defence lawyer David Jenkins Jr. He took a break and asked the lawyers to convince him why he should accept the proposal in a case of a husband’s threat to kill his wife.
“I’m not saying 'no' to a conditional discharge, I’m saying that I think I need to hear a little bit more about why this would not be contrary to the public interest,” Simpkin said.
Court heard that the victim and Singh were wed via arranged marriage in India and that she sponsored Punjab-native Singh to come to Canada in March 2023, four years after she arrived.
Singh has no criminal record in India or Canada and the victim suffered no physical harm, court heard.
However, the victim, via web conference, said the breakup and death threat affected her emotionally and financially. She blamed Singh for causing her depression, anxiety and family trauma. She said she has left Prince George, where she had a job in healthcare and had been accepted in a course to improve her skills.
“I will never be the same person I was, I will never be happy again as I was before,” the woman said through tears. “I wish I could improve this world for everyone with kindness and good deeds, but I'm sorry, mom and dad, your daughter had been broken into the pieces that no one can picture.”
Jenkins said Singh was trained as a pharmacist in India, but works at Canadian Tire and hopes to pursue higher education in Canada.
“In a bout of frustration, when she did not want to come home, he made some very unfortunate comments,” Jenkins said. “But he tells me that these were never meant to be true, but he did it out of a place of sadness, anger and frustration, and he’s very remorseful for ever having said that.”
Jenkins said Singh faced issues with Immigration and Citizenship Canada after the dissolution of the marriage, but those issues have been resolved. He said the victim’s family is suing Singh’s family in India, claiming the marriage was illegitimate. Singh, he said, loved the woman, wanted to make the marriage work and denied it was fraudulent.
Jenkins deemed Singh’s behaviour a “one-off” and his client immediately broke off contact with the victim after the arrest. He also said Singh entered the guilty plea against his advice. “He wanted to accept responsibility,” Jenkins said.
Rai agreed there has been no incident since the arrest and said the guilty plea saves the victim the trauma of testifying. The guilty plea will mean deterrence.
“One of those things that I considered in this situation is protective conditions for (the victim),” Rai said. “While Crown did believe we still have a substantial likelihood of conviction, had this gone to trial, and (the victim) was a very-willing witness, the reality is that trial, of course, is unpredictable. We don't know which way it would have gone.”
Simpkin reserved his sentence decision for a hearing date that is to be scheduled.
