SURREY – An Indo-Canadian man accused of killing another Indo-Canadian man in Surrey in early 2013 and murdering two women in New Westminster later the same year has pleaded guilty.
Sarbjit Bains was facing trial for the death of 29-year-old Amritpal Saran, whose burned body was found beside Colebrook Road in south Newton on Feb. 24, 2013.
Bains was initially charged last year with second-degree murder in the Surrey case, but on Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, reported the Surrey Leader newspaper.
Bains, 33, was also charged and facing trial in connection with the murders of Jill Lyons, who was found dead in an apartment in New Westminster on Aug. 12, 2013 and Karen Nabors, who was found dead in the same building 13 days later.
Bains pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Lyons, 45, and Nabors, 48.
On January 3, 2014, Bains’ girlfriend Evelina Urbaniuk was arrested and charged for indignity to Amritpal Saran’s remains. She has since pled guilty and has been sentence to two years less a day and three years of probation.
At the trial, Urbaniak said she heard the two men fighting in another room, but didn’t know what happened until she saw Saran dead.
She and Bains went and bought plastic bins and gasoline and returned to the apartment. They put Saran in the taped-together bins and drove to a secluded portion of Colebrook Road, dumped Saran’s body, poured gasoline over it and lit it on fire.
Saran’s family submitted victim impact statements prior to Urbaniak’s sentencing.
“No parent should ever have to endure those circumstances,” wrote Saran’s mother.
Superintendent Dwayne Mcdonald, Officer in Charge of IHIT says “This guilty plea is a testament to the commitment and professionalism with which this investigation was conducted. The commitment of the members of IHIT, New Westminster Police Department and the support units who assisted in this investigation has led to this successful conclusion and the assurance that the public is safe from this individual.”
“The hard work done by the IHIT and NWPD investigators resulted in the timely apprehension of Mr. Bains” said Chief Constable Dave Jones “the guilty pleas entered this afternoon by Mr. Bains have validated that hard work and is another example of the value and effectiveness of integrated policing in investigating complex crimes such as homicides”
Bains’ sentencing is scheduled for June 26. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for between 10 and 25 years. Sentences for manslaughter can vary from probation to life in prison.
