Jennifer Saltman
SURREY — The first case assigned to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team’s cold-case team when it was formed five years ago has ended with guilty pleas.
Bhabjit Singh Aujla and Parminder Singh Basran appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster recently, where they entered pleas to assault and manslaughter, respectively, in connection with the 2004 shooting death of Amandeep Singh Bath.
Aujla was initially charged with manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact to murder. Basran was charged with second-degree murder. Sentencing is scheduled for April 13.
According to information previously released by police, Bath phoned 911 shortly before 3 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2004, to report that he was in his car and being followed by two men. Both cars stopped in the 9100-block 125th Street in Whalley, where there was a confrontation, and the 27-year-old was shot in the head.
The incident was targeted, but Bath had no criminal history. He was living with his mother and working in an accountant’s office.
“Amandeep did not deserve to die. His murder was senseless,” said his cousin, Harpreet Khela.
Shortly after Bath’s death, Basran and Aujla were arrested and charged. However, the charges were stayed a year later after the Crown reviewed the evidence. At that time, a Crown spokesman said the evidence “no longer supported a viable prosecution.”
It was seven years before the case was assigned to the cold-case team.
Khela said it felt “amazing” to know the men responsible for his cousin’s death had finally admitted their guilt.
“It gives the whole family some closure,” Khela said. He praised the cold-case team and Crown counsel for their diligent work on the file so many years after Bath’s death.
“Obviously we’ll know more after sentencing, but just knowing that we have two people who have finally admitted what they did — because 13 years had passed and they hadn’t — that in itself means a lot to the family,” he said. “We have the right people and we definitely know that they did it.”
IHIT spokeswoman Cpl. Meghan Foster said cold-case team members often form strong bonds with the families of the victims whose deaths they investigate.
“That bond contributes to the determination and dedication that every investigator has when seeking a positive outcome. This was the case in Mr. Bath’s homicide — we just wanted to help find out what happened,” she said.
The cold-case team was established in March 2012 to review some of IHIT’s unsolved files dating to when the homicide team was founded in 2003, and provide support to IHIT’s other investigative teams.
“This team was created to investigate files that over time had maybe stalled or new information was received,” said Foster. “They could pick up where another team left off, and finish the file off with arrests and charges, and see it through the court process.”
The cold-case team has been involved in a number of high-profile homicide cases over the past five years:
• Nicholas Hannon: Three of Hannon’s friends were charged with first-degree murder and they pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January. They have since been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.
• Maple Batalia: Batalia’s former boyfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a life sentence with no parole for 21 years. His co-accused was convicted of being an accessory to murder after the fact, and was sentenced in January to 18 months in jail.
• George Antone: The Kwantlen First Nation elder was shot to death in his home on MacMillan Island in 2011. Michele Serdar pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in jail.
• David Mitchell: The 25-year-old was beaten to death in October 2006 in Surrey. Four men were charged in his death and two were convicted of manslaughter and second-degree murder last year.
The first case assigned to the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team’s cold-case team when it was formed five years ago has ended with guilty pleas.
Bhabjit Singh Aujla and Parminder Singh Basran appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster recently, where they entered pleas to assault and manslaughter, respectively, in connection with the 2004 shooting death of Amandeep Singh Bath.
Aujla was initially charged with manslaughter and being an accessory after the fact to murder. Basran was charged with second-degree murder. Sentencing is scheduled for April 13.
According to information previously released by police, Bath phoned 911 shortly before 3 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2004, to report that he was in his car and being followed by two men. Both cars stopped in the 9100-block 125th Street in Whalley, where there was a confrontation, and the 27-year-old was shot in the head.
The incident was targeted, but Bath had no criminal history. He was living with his mother and working in an accountant’s office.
“Amandeep did not deserve to die. His murder was senseless,” said his cousin, Harpreet Khela.
Shortly after Bath’s death, Basran and Aujla were arrested and charged. However, the charges were stayed a year later after the Crown reviewed the evidence. At that time, a Crown spokesman said the evidence “no longer supported a viable prosecution.”
It was seven years before the case was assigned to the cold-case team.
Khela said it felt “amazing” to know the men responsible for his cousin’s death had finally admitted their guilt.
“It gives the whole family some closure,” Khela said. He praised the cold-case team and Crown counsel for their diligent work on the file so many years after Bath’s death.
“Obviously we’ll know more after sentencing, but just knowing that we have two people who have finally admitted what they did — because 13 years had passed and they hadn’t — that in itself means a lot to the family,” he said. “We have the right people and we definitely know that they did it.”
IHIT spokeswoman Cpl. Meghan Foster said cold-case team members often form strong bonds with the families of the victims whose deaths they investigate.
“That bond contributes to the determination and dedication that every investigator has when seeking a positive outcome. This was the case in Mr. Bath’s homicide — we just wanted to help find out what happened,” she said.
The cold-case team was established in March 2012 to review some of IHIT’s unsolved files dating to when the homicide team was founded in 2003, and provide support to IHIT’s other investigative teams.
“This team was created to investigate files that over time had maybe stalled or new information was received,” said Foster. “They could pick up where another team left off, and finish the file off with arrests and charges, and see it through the court process.”
The cold-case team has been involved in a number of high-profile homicide cases over the past five years:
• Nicholas Hannon: Three of Hannon’s friends were charged with first-degree murder and they pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in January. They have since been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years.
• Maple Batalia: Batalia’s former boyfriend pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a life sentence with no parole for 21 years. His co-accused was convicted of being an accessory to murder after the fact, and was sentenced in January to 18 months in jail.
• George Antone: The Kwantlen First Nation elder was shot to death in his home on MacMillan Island in 2011. Michele Serdar pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to two years in jail.
• David Mitchell: The 25-year-old was beaten to death in October 2006 in Surrey. Four men were charged in his death and two were convicted of manslaughter and second-degree murder last year.
— With files from Nick Eagland
