Jagpreet Singh was convicted of murdering his wife days after entering Canada, and claimed he “accidentally stabbed” her in the stomach.
An Indian-origin man has been found guilty of second-degree murder after stabbing his wife to death just six days after arriving in Canada, with a judge rejecting his claim that he accidentally “poked” her during an argument.Jagpreet Singh, 53, was convicted of murdering his wife, Balwinder Kaur, 41, in her basement apartment in Abbotsford, British Columbia. The couple has been married for about 20 years and has two children. They did not meet until days after Singh traveled from India on a visit visa.Singh arrived in Canada on March 9, 2024, after Kaur sponsored his visa application. She had previously moved to Canada to care for their daughter, who traveled there in 2021 to complete her studies and later developed serious medical problems.
The reunion ended in tragedy on March 15, 2024.Police were called to the couple’s home on Wagner Drive after reports of a stabbing. Officers found Kaur unconscious in a pool of blood inside the basement suite. She was taken to the hospital but was declared dead after midnight. Kaur suffered multiple stab wounds. She had four wounds on her neck and four near her chest. A broken knife was found at the scene, the handle of which was near her body.
When officers entered the home, they found Singh sitting on a couch downstairs. Constable Nicholas Howden testified that Singh was sitting on the ground and “simply staring at us.” Police also said he appeared “scared and shocked” and had difficulty understanding officers, possibly because he did not speak English.During the trial, Singh admitted causing the fatal injuries but denied committing the murder. His defense argued that Kaur’s death occurred “in the heat of passion caused by sudden provocation.”
Singh claimed that it was his wife who initially pointed a knife at him and that he was only trying to disarm her.He also told the court that he accidentally “stabbed” her in the stomach with the knife and was later unable to clearly remember what happened. The judge rejected this version of events.British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Andrea Ormiston called Singh’s testimony “untrustworthy and unreliable.”“I found Mr Singh’s evidence about what happened between him and Mrs.
“Mr Kaur in the period leading up to her death cannot be relied upon at all, particularly on critical points such as the nature of their conflict before Ms Kaur was stabbed, and Mr Singh’s loss of memory afterwards,” the judge wrote.Evidence presented during the trial showed that there was little contact between the pair in the weeks before Singh traveled to Canada. Phone records revealed no calls or text messages between January and early March 2024.
On February 26, a WhatsApp message on Kaur’s phone said: “You have unblocked this contact.”Kaur met Singh at the airport on March 9, 2024 and shared photos and videos of their reunion. Several calls between the couple were recorded over the following days.On the night of the attack, Kaur made a video call on WhatsApp at 9.37pm to a number linked to her son. This number called her four times, but none of the calls were answered. Kaur had told her friends that she was afraid of her husband and did not want him to come to Canada. Singh was formally charged with second-degree murder after the incident and pleaded not guilty in July 2024.He is expected to be sentenced after psychological evaluations are completed, and the ruling is scheduled to be issued after October of this year.
