Punjabi youth pleads guilty to Maple Batalia’s murder in Canada
Wednesday, 09/03/2016
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
VANCOUVER: Gurjinder Singh aka Garry Dhaliwal has been given life sentence for the murder of aspiring model and Simon Fraser University student Maple Batalia five years ago.
The New Westminster Supreme Court, on Tuesday, pronounced the sentencing to Dhaliwal, who won’t be eligible for parole for 21 years.
The sentencing came on the eve of International Women’s Day.
Notably, some feminist groups had launched a petition seeking justice to Maple and had organised vigils in her memory near the site of her murder.
19-year-old Batalia was brutally killed in the parking lot near the university campus in Surrey in September, 2011.
Originally charged with first degree murder, Dhaliwal had pleaded guilty for the second degree murder last week. He had admitted that he had shot her and also slashed her with a knife.
Dhaliwal was an ex-boyfriend of the deceased woman, who wanted to be a model and actress. According to the Crown, he was jealous after the victim broke up with him and had been confronting her frequently.
