The second of two men involved in the slaying of Ripudaman Singh Malik has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 20 years.
Jose Lopez, 26, had initially been charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder in October at a hearing that devolved into a physical fight with his accomplice Tanner Fox.
Neither man has revealed who directed them to kill Malik, a former suspect in the 1985 Air India bombings who was acquitted at trial in 2005.
The sentence, which reflected a joint submission from Crown and defence, was delivered in a packed B.C. Supreme Court chamber in New Westminster.
Get daily National news
Before the sentence was delivered, Malik’s daughter-in-law Sundeep Kaur Dhaliwal delivered a victim impact statement, telling Lopez “you allowed someone to hire you to take away my children’s grandfather.”
Dhaliwal went on to plead with him to reveal the names of those who hired him to kill Malik.
The court has previously heard the two men accepted a contract to kill Malik, the details of which have never been revealed.
They shot him seven times, mostly in the head and neck, as he sat in the driver’s seat of his red Tesla in front of his business in Surrey on July 14, 2022.
Police later obtained a mountain of evidence including video of them scoping out the murder site in advance, handguns matching bullet casings found at the crime scene, masks, a glove and $16,000 cash.
In January, Tanner Fox was handed the same sentence as Lopez, life in prison with no parole eligibility for 20 years.
With credit for time served, Lopez will be eligible to apply for parole on July 26, 2042.
-With files from Christa Dao
Comments