Manraj Akalirai died during a street fight in 2013 where one attacker nearly decapitated him with a sword.
SOUTH VANCOUVER – Vancouver youngster Manraj Akalirai’s killer Amritpal Dhillon, 23, who used a samurai sword to nearly decapitate Akalirai, was sentenced this week in Vancouver to six years and 10 months in prison.
“The court must recognize that a human life was lost,” said Justice Nathan Smith to the crowded courtroom, which included dozens of Akalirai’s friends and family members.
“Mr. Dhillon used a deadly weapon in the most deadly way possible.”
His co-accused, Amritpaul Rakhra, 21, who beat Akalirai with a golf club, has been sentenced to four and a half years, less nine days credit for pre-trial custody, reported CBC News.
The victim’s family, who declined an interview request, called the sentences “disappointing.”
Akalirai, 19, was killed in in January 2013 during what the judge today called a “stupid and unnecessary street fight” in South Vancouver.
The victim, who had recently graduated from Gladstone High School, was carrying a knife as he was attacked by a large group on Elgin Street near East 47th Ave.
Dhillon, who was 19 at the time, was initially charged with second-degree murder, but was convicted last year of manslaughter along with Rakhra, who was 18 in 2013.
Neither had a previous criminal record, and both have expressed regret for what happened, the judge said as he delivered their sentences.
However, the “moral culpability in this case is high,” and the court must deter other young men from this conduct, said Smith.
Rakhra is expected to seek bail while he appeals the sentence.
