SURREY — The family of Mandepaak “Deepak” Chahal is speaking out about their lengthy wait for justice since he was killed.
The family says they are hopeful that questions about what happened the night of his death will be answered in trial, set to begin on April 10 in Surrey Provincial Court.
The victim’s sister, Satinder Klair, said Chahal’s accused killer has been “walking a free man over the last three years, while our family serves the life sentence.”
Klair called her 22-year-old brother’s death a “senseless tragedy” and a case of being “at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Deepak, pictured, went to Earl Marriott Secondary.
He was stabbed in Newton on June 19, 2014. Police found him lying on the road at 65B Avenue and 131st Street, a short stroll from St. Bernadette elementary school in Newton.
The officers had been responding to complaints about a brawl, at about 2 a.m. Deepak later died in hospital, becoming Surrey’s sixth homicide of 2014.
Then 20-year-old Sukhpreet “Jesse” Shergill was charged with manslaughter in the stabbing incident and his trial is about to begin.
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“The very people that work for the system tell us not to expect much from our justice system,” said Klair. “When we ask questions, we are given the run around and blaming it on different departments of our justice system. What are the real reasons of why it takes three years to provide justice, why are so many courtrooms sitting empty?”
Sister Reena Chahal said waiting three years has been excruciating for the family, particularly because they don’t have the details they so desperately seek.
“We’ve just been piecing things together,” she told the Now-Leader. “We talked to a witness, the people who were there. We haven’t been given very much information…. Having to wait three years wonder what happened exactly is difficult.”
The family described “hiccups” in the justice system – hiccups they hope other familes won’t have to endure.
“I think we need better resources, financially, and in other ways towards the court system and towards IHIT (the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team), the investigation side, police, even in terms of Crown. There’s been so much disconnect that we’ve experienced in all the different departments,” said Reena.
The trail date was postponed for more than a year, said Reena, and said she was told it was “simply because the defense lawyer double booked trials,” adding “it just seems like such a simple mistake and not the family had to suffer another year” without closure.
“I have so many questions,” she added. “We’ve also been told there’s not enough judges to see court cases sooner.”
Reena, a 29-year-old Surrey resident and mother of two, plans to attend every day of the trial with other family members and said “I’m hoping to see the justice system follow through. In the end, he’s not going to get a life sentence. We’re the ones that are stuck with a life sentence of losing our brother and son.
“I feel like if he were to get off on this, it’s sending the wrong message to children in the community,” she added. “Especially in a city where the violence seems so prevalent, we just want to see some sort of justice and punishment to make a point.”
With files from Tom Zytaruk
