#1. WARAICH TRIAL: HUSBAND SAID WIFE WANTED TO TAKE HIS SON AWAY
A Crown witness Shalinder Kaur Basran testified on Monday before a B.C. Supreme Court jury in New Westminster how she saw Navreet Waraich, 23, lying in a pool of blood when she rushed to the basement of her house after hearing screams.
Waraich’s husband, Jatinder, 25, told her that she wanted to take away his son from him. Navreet was still alive and pleaded to her to save her. She said that after he dropped a knife, she was able to get him out of the basement suite.
Waraich, a taxi driver, is charged with the second-degree murder of his wife on October 29, 2006, in their basement suite in the 7000-block of 123B Avenue in Newton, Surrey. Navreet was stabbed 39 times and later died in hospital. The couple had been married almost three years and had a five-month-old baby boy.
(Back on October 31, 2006, police publicly thanked Tajinder and Shalinder Basran. The two were at home in their upstairs suite when they heard cries for help from Navreet.
(In a statement, Surrey RCMP Roger Morrow said: “To the credit of both of these individuals, they exited their home and went to the basement suite below. In knocking on the door both of these ladies were confronted by a male. While speaking they could see past the male to Mrs. Waraich laying on the floor pleading for help.
(“Tajinder had the presence of mind to break away and immediately called 911. While doing so, her mother Shalinder remained behind, intervening with the male. She was able to convince him to drop his weapon, a knife and distract his attention until the arrival of police within approximately six minutes.”)
On Tuesday, in a three-hour recorded police interview, Waraich told Surrey RCMP Sgt. Baltej Dhillon that he was in debt and that his wife used to hit him and talk down to him and his family. He blamed her for her death. He said that on the day of the murder, she pushed him and threatened to leave with her son. He begged her to stay and then everything went blank, he told Dhillon.
On Wednesday, an undercover officer who was placed in Waraich’s cell testified that the accused told him he didn’t want a divorce because he feared he would lose custody of his son. He said he was caught red-handed when he answered the door to his landlady and her daughter. He described in detail how he killed her to the officer.
He told the officer that his wife used to threaten to leave him if he didn’t move out his parents’ house or if he didn’t put his cab half in her name.
On Friday, past our news deadline, Waraich was to testify in his own defence.
#2. INDO-CANADIAN AMONG FOUR ARRESTED IN VANCOUVER ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING
Two South Asians were among the four young men arrested by Vancouver Police in what appears to have been a case of attempted kidnapping last Tuesday (June 17) at about 6 p.m.
Police said on Wednesday that three adults and one juvenile were facing charges in connection with the incident in the 1400-block of Dogwood Avenue. They were alerted by neighbours who called 911 to report a suspicious vehicle in the area.
Police were nearby and spotted four masked men running from a home. Two of the men were arrested immediately and the other two were arrested a short distance away with the help of a dog unit and the police helicopter.
VPD Major Crime Robbery Section has a number of investigators working on the case to determine the motive. Police said it could have been strictly for monetary gain.
Richmond residents Muhammad Sarfraz, 18, and Jaswant Singh Sidhu, 19, and Hin Chung Rex Yeung, 27, of Burnaby, face various charges of attempted kidnapping, unlawful confinement, break-and-enter and using facial disguises. All three will be in court on June 20.
A 17-year-old Richmond resident will face similar charges as well as one count of using a firearm during the commission of an offence. A court date has not been set for the minor.
No one was injured in the incident.
#3. ONTARIO CABBIE CHARGED WITH FIRST-DEGREE MURDER IN DAUGHTER`S DEATH
Muhammad Parvez, 57, of Mississauga was charged this week with first-degree murder in connection with the death of his teenaged daughter. He appeared in a Brampton courtroom where he was officially charged.
Last December The VOICE had reported that Muslim organizations were quick in condemning a Mississauga cabbie for allegedly killing his 16-year-old daughter because she reportedly refused to wear a hijab or head scarf.
Parvez was charged after his daughter Aqsa died in hospital. She had been found on the floor of her bedroom with a faint pulse when a man called 911 and said he had killed his daughter. The girl's older brother, Waqas Parvez, was charged with obstructing police in connection with the investigation.
Friends of the Grade 10 student told the media that Aqsa had left home about a week earlier because of disagreement with her father and brothers about wearing a hijab.
They said she wanted to dress like a Western woman in tight-fitting clothes and show off her long, dark hair by removing her hijab. This led to her often coming to school with bruises. She told her friends that she had been hit on the arms and across the face and that her parents kept her under strict guard.
Parvez remains in custody and is scheduled to appear in court on July 8.
#4. TWO SURREY MEN FOUND GUILTY OF MURDER OF SINGLE PREGNANT MOTHER
Two Surrey men have been found guilty of the November 20, 2005 murder of 21-year-old Surrey single mother Tasha Lynn Rossette at her Surrey home. She is survived by her three-year-old daughter.
After a year-long complex investigation spear-headed by Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) and supported by local police agencies, investigators arrested Amjad Khan, 23, and Naim Mohammed Saghir, 23, both of Surrey, for the murder.
The first degree murder trial ended last week with both men being convicted of first-degree murder. They will be sentenced to life in prison.
Police said Rossette was brutally murdered at her home in the 14200 block of 72 Avenue in Surrey and her body was found by her sister two days later. Police later learned that Tasha was four months pregnant at the time of the murder. They found that Khan and Rossette were in a relationship, and that the motive for the murder was Tasha’s pregnancy because Khan did not want a child.
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