Tirth Sehmbi, 39, is charged with second-degree murder in the July 10, 2010, slaying of Rajpinder Kaur Sehmbi. Defence lawyer Mike Danyluik said an agreed statement of facts would be submitted in the case on Sept. 17 and the matter would then proceed to a contested hearing to decide whether or not Sehmbi should be found not criminally responsible.
EDMONTON – An Indo-Canadian ex-RCMP officer accused of shooting his wife to death at their Edmonton home is seeking to be found not guilty as a result of being mentally ill at the time.
Tirth Sehmbi, 39, is charged with second-degree murder in the July 10, 2010, slaying of Rajpinder Kaur Sehmbi.
In Court of Queen’s Bench last Friday, defence lawyer Mike Danyluik said an agreed statement of facts would be submitted in the case on Sept. 17 and the matter would then proceed to a contested hearing to decide whether or not Sehmbi should be found not criminally responsible, reported QMI Agency.
In earlier court proceedings, Sehmbi could be seen visibly shaking as he sat handcuffed and shackled.
Sehmbi has been held in custody at Alberta Hospital and there have been previous court orders for psychiatric assessments to determine whether he was a potential candidate for a not criminally responsible finding.
The 30-year-old victim was found dead in the southeast Edmonton home the couple shared with their two young sons. The boys were not home at the time of the death.
Police have said they responded to reports of gunfire about 4:30 a.m. at the two-storey house at 44 Jefferson Rd.
An autopsy revealed the woman died from multiple gunshot wounds, said investigators.
At the time of the shooting, relatives of the slain woman said the arranged marriage between her and her Mountie husband was always a “stormy” one.
“Rajpinder suffered 10 years of tortured, married life,” said Kalvinder Ubbi, Rajpinder’s aunt, from London, England, adding the family was traumatized by the death.
Other family members said Sehmbi was in a deep depression prior to the shooting.
The couple wed in October, 2000 in New Delhi, India. About six months after they were married, Rajpinder — a devout Sikh — joined Sehmbi in Canada, where she had no immediate family other than that of her husband.
Rajpinder had been employed at a community school as a temporary teacher several years ago and had been working at a Starbucks in Mill Woods at the time of her death.
Sehmbi, a Mountie of seven years who was working as a canine handler in Stony Plain, was off-duty at the time of the killing, but had his police firearm at home because he was on-call. He has since resigned.
Courtesy QMI Agency
