Two men have been convicted in the murder of a Surrey mother almost a decade after she was killed.
Amanpreet Bahia was killed at her home in February 2007, while two of her young daughters were left to fend for themselves until her body was discovered hours later.
Baljinder Singh Bahia, Amanpreet’s husband, and Eduard Baranec were found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with no opportunity for parole for 25 years. Amanpreet was found face-down in a pool of blood with stab wounds to her back and neck.
“I’ve never seen a slashing of a woman as brutal as this, myself, in 50 years of practice,” said defence lawyer Russ Chamberlain.
The court heard that Baljinder orchestrated his wife’s murder and hired Baranec to carry it out.
Family members said they will never recover from the tragedy.
“[It will] never get better. When we are thinking about the kids, I have kids too,” said Harpal Sandhu, Amanpreet’s sister-in-law.
Amanpreet’s daughters, ages one, three and nine at the time of the murder, are in the care of their paternal grandparents and the oldest daughter is now in first-year university. They have not seen their father since 2011, when all three suspects were arrested and charged in an elaborate undercover police investigation.
Amanpreet’s brother Jugraj Kahlon said his sister was the family caretaker.
“She looked after the farm. She looked after the family. She worked very hard,” he said.
A third suspect, former Surrey realtor Tanpreet Kaur Athwal, is also charged with first-degree murder but has not yet stood trial
While the family is content with the guilty verdict, nothing can ease their pain, Kahlon said.
“We are satisfied that justice has been done. But we are not happy. We will never be happy,” he said.
Baljinder plans to appeal his conviction.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Sarah MacDonald
