“When he was killed, so were my hopes and dreams.”
It was an emotional day in a New Westminster court house on Thursday as the mother of Amandeep Bath confronted his killers. Surjit Bath openly wept in court and was so distraught, she was unable to read her victim impact statement. Instead, it was read to the court by her lawyer, where she described her life since Bath’s death on Sept. 24, 2004.
In it she spoke about being a single mother who worked double shifts to provide for her only son and how her hopes and dreams were killed along with her son’s when he was shot.
Thirteen years ago, Bath, who worked at an accountant’s office, was shot to death in Surrey by two men, Parminder Basran and Bhabjit Aujla, following a confrontation. Police said the 27-year-old Bath did not have a criminal record and was not involved in gangs or drugs.
Both Basran and Aujla were charged in 2004 shortly after Bath was killed, but charges against them were stayed in 2005. Crown said at the time that the evidence did not support the prosecution.
Bath’s aunt, Kamaljit Khela, said the family never gave up hope and in September 2013, the two men were charged yet again.
On Thursday, Basran, who was identified as the shooter, was emotional throughout the court proceedings. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm and was sentenced to six years, but will serve five years and nine months due to time already served.
Aujla pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to time served, which equated to 11 months in custody.
Outside the courthouse Bath’s family gathered holding a picture of the young man and said they were grateful to have closure and find out what happened that night in 2004.
“It’s nice to see that after 12 years there’s some closure to be had,” Bath’s cousin, Harpreet Khela said.
“Everyone worked very hard on this case… As a family we believe that some sort of justice was served today. Nothing that they would do today would bring him back but we’re glad that there were two admissions. We’re glad that there were a lot of admissions of what happened that night.”
Bath’s murder was the first case taken on by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team’s (IHIT) cold case unit when it was founded in 2012.