A Surrey man who killed three people in three separate attacks in 2013 has received a mandatory life sentence and can’t apply for parole for at least 18 years.
Sarbjit Bains pleaded guilty in April to killing Delta’s Amritpal Saran, 29, and two woman from New Westminster – Jill Lyons, 45 and Karen Nabors, 48.
On Wednesday (Sept. 30), Bains was handed the life sentence in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. Justice Miriam Maisonville set his parole eligibility at 18 years, meaning he is not allowed to apply for release before 2033. At that time, it would be up to the Parole Board of Canada whether or not to grant any type of release from prison.
The court heard that on the night Saran was killed in February 2013, he, Bains and Bains’ girlfriend, Evelina Urbaniak, were partying together, drinking and doing drugs. While details are limited, lawyers submitted an agreed statement saying Bains and Saran kept partying after Urbaniak went to bed. Bains left to go to the bathroom and when he returned, found Saran naked in Urbaniak’s bedroom and “snapped.” He choked Saran to death and he and Urbaniak later disposed of the body on Colebrook Road.
It was about six months later, in August 2013, that Lyons was found dead in an apartment complex in New Westminster. Thirteen days later, the body of Nabors was discovered in the same building.
During sentencing, it was revealed Bains had planned to rob both women – who advertised online as escorts – but ended up killing both. Nabors and Lyons were friends with one another and both had children.
Bains was arrested and charged with all three murders in January 2014. In the spring of this year, he pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Lyons and Nabors and to the lesser charge of manslaughter in Saran’s death.
Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence. A 10-year sentence for the manslaughter conviction will be served concurrently. Bains’ sentence also includes a lifetime mandatory firearms prohibition.
Family and friends of all three victims either read or submitted statements at Bains’ sentencing hearing in September, during which they expressed their sadness and anger at the senseless loss of their loved ones.
“My house was warm until you took my son away,” Saran’s mom Jatinder told Bains.
Nabors’ son submitted a victim impact statement that read, in part, “It hurts so much that she is gone. You have no idea.”
Sherri Hickman, Lyons’ mother, said she lost all belief in the goodness of the human race when her daughter was murdered.
Urbaniak pleaded guilty earlier this year to interfering with a dead body in connection to Saran’s death and received a two-year conditional sentence plus three years probation.
