Warning: Graphic content
A man has been convicted of second-degree murder for fatally stabbing his wife in Abbotsford, B.C., just days after he arrived in Canada.
Jagpreet Singh was charged in the death of 41-year-old Balwinder Kaur, his wife of more than 20 years, who was found suffering from multiple stab wounds in her basement suite on March 15, 2024.
While Singh did not dispute causing the fatal stab wounds, he argued that he should only be convicted of the lesser charge of manslaughter, telling the court he killed Kaur “in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation.”
Singh claimed the stabbing stemmed from an argument that turned physical, with Kaur swinging a knife at him first.
He told the court he was trying to disarm Kaur when he “accidentally poked her with the knife in her stomach.” He said he had no memory of what happened next.
‘Untrustworthy and unreliable’
An autopsy found Kaur died of significant blood loss through seven stab wounds in her neck and chest.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Andrea Ormiston rejected Singh’s argument, finding he provided “untrustworthy and unreliable” evidence that failed to raise a reasonable doubt about his intent to kill Kaur.
“I have found Mr. Singh’s evidence about what transpired between him and Ms. Kaur in the time leading up to her death to be entirely unreliable, particularly on critical points such as the nature of the conflict between them before Ms. Kaur was stabbed, and Mr. Singh’s ensuing memory loss,” the judge wrote in her decision.
Singh, then 51 years old, arrived in Canada from India on March 9, 2024, six days before the murder.
Kaur had moved to Canada in 2022 to assist their daughter who had come to the country to attend university.
“Ms. Kaur is the one who submitted the paperwork to request Mr. Singh’s visa,” according to the decision. “He was staying with Ms. Kaur in her basement suite in Abbotsford.”
‘Murderous intent’
On the night of the killing, the couple had gone out to a gurdwara and then to a mall. They took an Uber home at around 9:30 p.m.
Prosecutors estimated Kaur was fatally stabbed within an hour of returning to the basement suite in a home on Wagner Drive.
A neighbour came to the suite at 10:38 p.m. and saw Kaur lying motionless in a pool of blood. Singh and Kaur were the only people in the suite when police arrived and arrested Singh.
Ormiston heard evidence that Kaur made statements prior to her death indicating she was “afraid of Mr. Singh arriving and that she did not want him to come to Canada,” according to the decision.
“When the evidence at trial is considered in its totality, Mr. Singh’s evidence is incapable of raising any reasonable doubt about murderous intent, about Ms. Kaur provoking Mr. Singh in the way he described, or about such provocation causing him to suddenly experience an overwhelming loss of control that is legally excusable,” the decision said.
A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled.
According to the B.C. Prosecution Service, the next court appearance is set for Oct. 19 to confirm that Singh’s psychiatric assessment has been completed.
