COURTS: Surrey gangster convicted of second-degree murder loses appeal

There are several gangster trials making their way through the B.C. Supreme Court this fall. Jenelle Schneider/PNG

B.C.’s highest court has dismissed the appeal of a Surrey gangster who was convicted in the fatal shooting of another man.

In July 2010, a B.C. Supreme Court jury found Raminder Bhander guilty in the January 2008 second-degree murder of Tejvir (Sunny) Bains, 24.

He received the mandatory sentence of life in prison with 10 years of parole ineligibility.

The crime occurred after Bhander had a heated verbal confrontation with Bains and Bains’s girlfriend, Ruby Jubbal, at a Surrey restaurant.

Bhander drove to the home of a male friend and the two men then drove to the townhouse shared by Bains and Jubbal.

As Bains, brandishing a sword, came downstairs towards Bhander, Bhander fired a handgun repeatedly, hitting Bains four times, twice in the back.

Bains died at the scene. Jubbal fled out a third-floor window, falling onto a concrete patio and breaking her arm.

At trial Bhander admitted he was the gunman and that he shot Bains, but claimed he was acting in self-defence.

On appeal, he claimed the police conduct surrounding a confession he gave following his arrest had violated his rights.

Bhander had been arrested on a Friday and was held in custody over the weekend. After being advised of his right to silence, he met with a lawyer.

He confessed to police but claimed on appeal that his rights had been violated, because his lawyer sought another meeting with him over the weekend and he asked on one occasion to speak again to a lawyer.

But in a ruling released Wednesday, a three-member panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal found that none of the circumstances requiring a second consultation with counsel were present.

In her reasons for judgment, B.C. Court of Appeal Madam Justice Mary Saunders concluded that Bhander had demonstrated his awareness of his right to silence.

She found he understood that by speaking to police he was acting contrary to the legal advice he had been given.

Court heard that Bhander led a criminal lifestyle for many years. He was an admitted drug user, drug trafficker and drug smuggler.

He’d previously assaulted a Crown witness and carried a loaded handgun, which he said he was willing to use to defend himself.

Bhander had also testified in defence of Ripudaman Singh Malik at the Air India trial. Malik and his co-accused Ajaib Singh Bagri were acquitted of murder in the Air India bombings.