NEW WESTMINSTER – An Indo-Canadian man from Surrey, one of four men charged in relation to the 2009 homicide of Kulwinder Kaur Gill of Abbotsford, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder.
Sukhpal Singh Johal of Surrey entered the plea during an appearance in New Westminster Supreme Court last week.
Johal is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on July 18. There is a court-ordered ban on publication of details.
Johal was originally charged in 2013 with conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact, reported Abbotsford News.
Gill’s husband, Iqbal Singh Gill, Gurpreet Singh Atwal, of Abbotsford and Jaspreet Singh Sohi of Surrey were charged with first-degree murder.
Kulwinder, 42, was out for a walk with her husband on the evening of April 27, 2009 when she was struck by a pickup truck in the rural area of Townshipline Road and Bell Road, east of Highway 11.
Responding officers were flagged down by her husband, who led them to a water-filled ditch where Gill had been thrown by the impact.
Police seized a suspect vehicle with signs of damage dumped on an acreage several blocks away.
The incident was reported as a hit-and-run accident at the time.
At the April 2013 press conference that announced the charges, APD Deputy Chief Rick Lucy said local police had been to the Gill home on one occasion before Kulwinder’s death.
The APD received a hang-up 911 call in February 2006 and, when they investigated, they found that a verbal altercation had occurred between the couple, Lucy said.
