Jatinder Dhaliwal put a gun to his wife Lakhvir’s head as she lay on the floor of their Brampton bedroom, and pulled the trigger, a court has heard.
BRAMPTON – A drug addicted Indo-Canadian shot his wife with his two his two little boys begging him not to hurt their mother.
Jatinder Dhaliwal put a gun to his wife Lakhvir’s head as she lay on the floor of their Brampton bedroom, and pulled the trigger, a court has heard.
Then, in one of the most horrific domestic violence homicides this city has ever seen, he warned the young witnesses, aged 8 and 9, that he would kill them if they told police what had happened, according to an agreed statement of facts read in court by Assistant Crown Attorney Alex Cornelius, reported Brampton Guardian.
Dhaliwal, 44, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder for the 2012 death of his wife Lakhvir Dhaliwal, 37, in their Sled Dog Road home on May 28, 2012. A sentencing hearing will be held Dec. 15.
Court heard Lakhvir Dhaliwal had hidden her drug-addicted husband’s heroin from him and he wanted it back, sparking that final, fatal confrontation between them.
She was shot seven times by her husband of 12 years – in the arm, the chest, and one final bullet to her head, according to the agreed statement of facts.
After an attempt to clean up the scene, Jatinder Dhaliwal put the gun in his wife’s left hand, collected his passport and $2,000 cash, got into the family car, and drove off, throwing the bullet casings into a nearby sewer as he left.
His 9-year-old son called 911 at 5:20 a.m. and said his mother had been shot. He was told to do CPR, but it was no use. She was already dead.
Any of the three gunshot wounds to her chest and/or the shot to her head would have “rapidly” killed her, according to the pathologist who performed the autopsy, the court heard.
Dhaliwal didn’t make it far from the bloody scene. He crashed his car into a pole on nearby Torbram Road at Peter Robertson Boulevard and was arrested there.
The gun was registered to Lakhvir. It was a Glock, .40 calibre, and was sitting on the nightstand beside their bed, according to the facts entered into the court record when Dhaliwal pleaded guilty.
A long-time heroin user, Dhaliwal’s drug addiction was the source of arguments between the pair in the months leading up to the shooting, according to the agreed statement.
Throughout the weekend of May 26, they argued about his drug use. He had been “consuming a large amount of heroin in the course of the weekend and was intoxicated up until after his arrest,” according to the agreed statement.
In that final argument, around 2 a.m. on May 28, Dhaliwal was trying to get his wife to give him back the heroin she had hidden from him. He later told police his wife picked up the gun during the physical fight between them, and the couple struggled for the weapon. He also told police he shot her because she was brandishing a knife, but no knife was found in the bedroom during a search by police, according to the agreed statement.
Lakhvir Dhaliwal’s adult nephew, Harwinder Boparai, also lived in the house and he initially tried to stop the fight, but when he saw the gun, he ran out of the house, “fearing for his safety,” and went to get help.
Court heard the couple’s 9-year-old son initially witnessed his father fire three shots toward his mother and his mother fall to the floor, calling out for 911 to be called, according to the agreed statement. He ran back to his own bedroom and woke up his 8-year-old brother. They both returned to their parents’ bedroom and despite their pleas – the older boy grabbing onto his father and begging him not to harm her – they witnessed Dhaliwal kick their mother in the stomach and then shoot her in the head, saying she was, among other things, a “worry,” court heard.
Neighbours said Lakhvir was an attentive and caring mother, and one said she used to take the children to karate, soccer and swimming, and always sat on the front porch in the summer watching them play. The neighbourhood held a vigil in her memory soon after the shooting, denouncing domestic violence and celebrating her life. The two boys and other relatives also attended.
Courtesy Brampton Guardian
