# Husband Facing Murder Charges



## Archived_Member16 (Mar 12, 2007)

*Husband of slain Surrey teacher now facing murder charge in her death*
Camille Bains -
Monday, March 12, 2007


*DELTA, B.C. (CP) - A Surrey, B.C., high school teacher has been charged with second-degree murder charge in the death of his pregnant wife, also a teacher, police said Monday. *

The charge against 35-year-old Mukhtiar Panghali follows an investigation spanning several months. The charred remains of 30-year-old Manjit Panghali were found beside a road in this Vancouver suburb last October, several days after she had disappeared. 

Police said the accused's 27-year-old brother, Sukhvinder, is charged with being an accessory after the fact, and both men are accused of improper or indecent interference with a body. 

"Today would have been my sister's due date," Manjit's sister Jasmine Bhambra told a police news conference. 

"We should be in the hospital right now welcoming the newest member of our family," she said as Manjit's father held up a picture of his daughter and wiped away tears. 

She said it was a bittersweet moment for her family. 

"While we are relieved to some degree with recent developments we are still processing through the realities of this nightmare that we have been living since Manjit's death. 

"The gruesome murder of Manjit and her unborn baby has left us and the entire local community shocked and horrified. 

"Vibrant, funny, devoted, inspiring, honest and gentle, that was our Manjit who has been taken away from us so senselessly." 

Police spokesman Const. Sharlene Brooks said police are recommending charges of assaulting a police officer and attempting to flee custody against Sukhvinder. 

"One of our investigators was injured and he's currently recovering from surgery that he went through overnight," Brooks said. 

"He sustained significant injuries to his shoulder." 

Manjit Panghali's death was among three attacks on Indo-Canadian women in the Vancouver area in a two-week period last fall, two of them fatal. 

The incidents led to renewed concerns about domestic violence in the South Asian community and prompted well-attended forums for people to voice their concerns. 

Brooks read a statement on behalf of Chief Const. Jim Cessford. 

"I extend my deepest and most sincere sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Manjit Pangali. 

"The past few months have been very difficult for everyone affected by this terrible tragedy." 


*© The Canadian Press 2007*​


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## spnadmin (Nov 18, 2010)

*Update: More than 4 years after her murder
*

*Forensic expert tells court that pregnant Canadian Sikh woman was strangled, burned*

Victoria (British Columbia, Canada), Nov.18 : The Supreme Court in the Canadian province of British Columbia has been told that by a forensic pathologist that a pregnant Canadian Sikh woman was strangled and burned before her body was deposited on a beach.

Dr. Charles Lee provided the testimony in B.C. Supreme Court on Wednesday at the second-degree murder trial of Mukhtiar Panghali.

According to the Globe and Mail, Panghali has been accused of killing his wife, Manjit.

Manjit went missing on October 18, 2006, after apparently telling her husband she was going to a prenatal class. The elementary school teacher’s body was found on a South Delta beach five days later.

Cell phone records will help prove man killed pregnant wife.

Dr. Lee performed an autopsy on Manjit Panghali’s body and told the court he found bruises and bone fractures in her neck.

“Those features are typically seen in cases of strangulation,” he said.

In sometimes grisly testimony, Dr. Lee said Ms. Panghali’s back and pelvis in particular suffered a great deal of fire damage. Her eyes were also burned away.

Dr. Lee said Ms. Panghali was likely dead before she was burned because there was no soot in her airway.

Dr. Lee, who works for Vancouver General Hospital and has testified at a number of trials.

He said Ms. Panghali’s fetus was 16 to 20 weeks old at the time of death. He said the fetus appeared to be female. (ANI)

http://www.indiatalkies.com/2010/11...ant-canadian-sikh-woman-strangled-burned.html


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## Admin (Nov 18, 2010)

There is no mention of motive in this case...


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## Archived_Member16 (Nov 19, 2010)

Aman Singh Ji:

The Mukhtiar Singh Panghali trial started this week and is expected to take up to a month.

Added information is being gradually revealed by the Crown in court daily. However the motive that led to the murder of Mrs. Manjit Kaur Panghali by her husband has not been mentioned yet in court!


This trial is getting a vast amount of news coverage: TV , radio & print.

Stay tuned !


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## spnadmin (Nov 19, 2010)

Soul_jyot said:


> Aman Singh Ji:
> 
> The Mukhtiar Singh Panghali trial started this week and is expected to take up to a month.
> 
> ...




Thanks Soul_jyot ji for the update on this trial. I am startled that the motive has not been mentioned in court. However, should not be surprised because after Aman Singh ji asked about the motive, I looked back over 2 years of news articles. Not a single one of the articles that I was able to find mentioned a motive. If that information is out there, I did not find it.


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## Archived_Member16 (Nov 19, 2010)

To get regular updated information on this trial, I recommend "google search" with words:*Mukhtiar Panghali trial *


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## findingmyway (Dec 6, 2010)

Ian Bothom said:


> Thanks to share updation ........This happens normal now a days .Now its not a big news to watch this .



It should always be big news as it is wrong! Only by making such killings shameful can we hope to quash them :}--}:


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## Siri Kamala (Dec 6, 2010)

spnadmin said:


> Thanks Soul_jyot ji for the update on this trial. I am startled that the motive has not been mentioned in court. However, should not be surprised because after Aman Singh ji asked about the motive, I looked back over 2 years of news articles. Not a single one of the articles that I was able to find mentioned a motive. If that information is out there, I did not find it.



While this article here -- 
http://www.{censored}/news/Panghali+asked+friend+should+lawyer+murder+trial+hears/3902220/story.html -- does not address the issue of the motive for the killing per se, it seems pretty clear to me that this is a classic case of domestic violence resulting in death.

Mr. Panghali indicated to his friend that he was concerned his wife was in an inappropriate relationship with someone named "Tony."

As a former victim of domestic abuse, and as someone who works in Corrections, this sort of thing is still far too common -- it is time men started talking to other MEN about the problem of Domestic Violence and why it is completely unacceptable to EVER hit or otherwise hurt a woman or a child, nor is it acceptable to verbally abuse or humiliate a woman or a child. 

Until men, as a community, hold one another accountable for how they treat women, the problem will continue.

Here are a few key facts to consider:

In the U.S., domestic violence kills more pregnant women each year than any other cause. ~23% of all women experience violence during pregnancy, with pregnant adolescents and women with unintended pregnancies at an increased risk of being abused. 

(I would imagine the data for DV in Canada tracks pretty closely to that in the USA.)

Women are at greatest risk of violence from men they know. In Australia, Canada, Israel, South Africa, and the United States, *40-70 per cent of female murder victims were killed by their partners.*

Many men and women believe wife-beating is justified. The shame associated with domestic violence, rape, and other forms of abuse may contribute to the fact that women often suffer it in silence, afraid of repercussions and stigma, and never tell anyone.

In India, 19% of women who have been married between the ages of 15 and 19 report being beaten, hit, kicked, slapped, or otherwise physically hurt by a spouse.  According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, in the 400 cases of domestic violence reported in 1993 in the province of Punjab, *nearly half ended with the death of the wife.*


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## spnadmin (Dec 7, 2010)

Siri Kamala ji

There was a time when I had these kinds of statistics at my fingertips. Not any longer. Therefore, my personal thanks go to you for making this clear statement to all who read the thread, without flinching from the ugly story that the numbers tell. In a way, this story is like an inheritance, one that is handed down over centuries, from generation to generation, in every part of the world. Will it end?

Everyone will read your words and take something different away. Here is what stands out for me. The end as often as not, and sometimes more often than not, is death. Violent death. Sometimes an excruciating death. The case studies are out there for all to read.

Another great shame is the conspiracy of silence that surrounds these criminal acts. Silence on the part of a family, a community, and a broader culture. Ending the silence is an important step for everyone who is part of a sick system that permits this to continue -- in every part of the world.

It was wonderful to learn a little more about you too, as a person. Thanks for all your other thoughtful contributions here to SPN in the time since you have joined us.


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## Archived_Member16 (Dec 8, 2010)

<CITE>By CBC News, cbc.ca, </CITE>Updated: December 8, 2010 3:56 PM
*Panghali will not testify in own defence*
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Mukhtiar Panghali listens to the prosecutor 
during his trial in which he is charged with
the murder of his wife.


A former Surrey, B.C. school teacher accused of murdering his pregnant wife will not testify and will not call any witnesses in his own defence, his lawyer confirmed Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

Mukhtiar Panghali was charged with second-degree murder of Manjit Panghali and interfering with her remains four years ago, after the burned body of his 30-year-old wife was discovered on the beach near the Delta port five days after he reported her missing. 

Panghali's defense lawyer Michael Tammen said the reason why the accused is not testifying is a complex decision, which he will not discuss publicly. 

The Crown is set to make its final submissions and the trial is expected to wrap up Friday afternoon. 

*source: *
http://news.ca.msn.com/local/britishcolumbia/article.aspx?cp-documentid=26673231


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## Siri Kamala (Dec 8, 2010)

Soul_jyot said:


> <cite>By CBC News, cbc.ca, </cite>Updated: December 8, 2010 3:56 PM
> *Panghali will not testify in own defence*




Interesting. I wonder if he has been overcome by remorse and does not feel he could truthfully speak in his own defense because... there is no defense against what he did.  I hope that he gets the help he needs, and that he will no longer be a danger to the people closest to him.

I believe people can heal and change, and that the harm we do to others is almost always a reflection of harm that has been done to us in some way by some other person. 

My heart breaks for their child who will now have to grow up without her mother OR her father.  :-(


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## Archived_Member16 (Dec 10, 2010)

*No evidence to convict, Panghali defence says *

*SUNNY DHILLON *
*From Saturday's Globe and Mail *
*Published Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 9:07PM EST*

The court of public opinion may have convicted Mukhtiar Panghali of killing his pregnant wife, but the court of law must recognize there's no physical evidence he's a murderer, the man's lawyer said Friday.

Michael Tammen, Mr. Panghali's lawyer, used his closing argument to argue the Crown’s case against his client was littered with assumptions and light on facts. The Crown said in its final submission on Thursday that Mr. Panghali feigned concern after his wife first disappeared and did his best to fend off probing questions from friends and police.

But Mr. Tammen disagreed with that theory and told the court Mr. Panghali's actions were consistent with that of a concerned husband. He said there was nothing to suggest Mr. Panghali killed his wife, or even had a motive to do so.

"There is simply no case of second-degree murder here," Mr. Tammen said.

Mr. Panghali was charged after his wife's charred corpse was found near a Delta waterway on Oct. 23, 2006. Manjit Panghali, an elementary school teacher, was four to five months pregnant. The couple also had a daughter who was in preschool when her mother died.

Ms. Panghali’s killing was one of three attacks on Indo-Canadian women in B.C. in a two-week period. Two of those incidents were fatal.
Mr. Panghali's B.C. Supreme Court trial began last month in New Westminster. Mr. Tammen did not call any witnesses and Mr. Panghali did not testify.

*The judge, who tried the case without a jury, reserved her decision Friday. She scheduled a court date for Jan. 14 but cautioned she might postpone the ruling if it takes her long to review all of the evidence.*

In its closing argument, the Crown linked a number of facts and inconsistencies that it said proved Mr. Panghali killed his wife: the fact that he allegedly used his wife’s cellphone after she disappeared, and didn’t call police when she first failed to return home.

The Crown also presented surveillance footage that it said showed Mr. Panghali buying a lighter and newspaper the night his wife vanished. Mr. Panghali had said he never left home that evening.

But whereas the Crown said the circumstantial facts made up a "brick wall" of evidence, Mr. Tammen said it was more like a "house of cards."

"There is no rendition of facts on what happened. It's just not there. The absence is staggering," he said.

He said it could not be proved the man in the gas station was Mr. Panghali. He said witnesses who testified to that effect were biased and couldn’t provide reasons to support their viewpoints.

Mr. Tammen said the man in the footage could have been anyone with a turban, beard and average build. (Mr. Panghali has since shaved off his beard and no longer wears a turban.) The lawyer added that the man in the gas station appeared to wear his turban in a different style than Mr. Panghali used to.

Mr. Tammen also took offence with the Crown’s theory that his client called B.C. Ambulance Service the night his wife disappeared to create the appearance he was concerned. The Crown accused Mr. Panghali of making the call to the ambulance service because he knew they wouldn’t come to his home, while the police might.

But Mr. Tammen said the call was a sign his client was genuinely worried about his wife's well-being, and feared she might have been in a car accident or injured in some other capacity.

Mr. Tammen said it wasn't the first time Ms. Panghali failed to return home. She spent at least one night at a hotel, away from her husband. Mr. Tammen argued that that explained his client’s reluctance to call police, since his wife could have come home the next day.

The lawyer recounted testimony from a police officer, who said the husband is always a suspect when his wife disappears. Mr. Tammen added it’s fortunate Mr. Panghali isn’t being tried in the court of public opinion.

Mr. Tammen did not at any point mention who might have killed Ms. Panghali.

"This case is not about attempting to answer this question," he said.
Mr. Panghali sat in the courtroom throughout the closing argument but said nothing, aside from brief chats with counsel.

*source:* http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/no-evidence-to-convict-panghali-defence-says/article1834011/


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## davinderdhanjal (Dec 11, 2010)

If the husband loved the wife - would he not be worried about finding out how and why this happened and if the daughter and he himself was also in danger?


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## Caspian (Dec 13, 2010)

I actually remember the day the news broke out hear in vancouver. My teacher was good friends with her. It was the same year that 2 other women within the sikh community were killed (or one was killed and one almost died). Very dark year for the sikh community in vancouver during 2006-2007.


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## Archived_Member16 (Dec 21, 2010)

*Slain wife felt scared, depressed, powerless*

_Woman writes of failing marriage_

*By Jennifer Saltman, The Province - December 21, 2010*

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"I can't do it. I can't take it any more. It is always my fault. He is just so awesome, so right, so powerful, so witty, so charming in everyone else's eyes -- not mine. He is much bigger than me. I cannot compete with him. He makes me feel powerless, so hopeless, so scared," she wrote in an undated notebook entry. 

The writings, entered as an exhibit at the trial of Manjit's husband, Mukhtiar, were available for members of the media to view Monday. 

Mukhtiar Panghali's trial on charges of second-degree murder and interfering with a dead body ended earlier this month in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster. 

Manjit, 31, disappeared after attending a prenatal yoga class in south Surrey on Oct. 18, 2006. She was four months pregnant with her second child. Her burned remains were found off Deltaport Way five days later. 

The writings used at Panghali's trial included copied pages from notebooks, letters and a card. They appeared to be written to herself, her husband and her unborn child. 

"I am writing today because I thought I would never let myself get to this point. I am clinically depressed and am on medication. I am so scared I am going to get addicted . . . I am feeling very emotional and overwhelmed with life and all the obstacles it is throwing at me," Manjit wrote in an undated notebook entry. 

"My husband does not give me the support I need from him. Our communication has gone out the window . . . I think I have hurt him so bad physically and mentally." 

In an entry from Jan. 12, 2005, Manjit wrote that she was crying all day and wanted to call Panghali but "he wouldn't understand." 

"I am trying my best, my hardest, 199 per cent, to make things work. I have every book imaginable. I am readying and reacting and trying hard to implement what I am reading. Trying to stay positive. Trying, trying, trying." \
Manjit often wrote of her dreams and plans for a happy marriage and wondered what happened to her relationship. 

"We have taken each other for granted and our pride has come in the way of our hearts. We have hurt each other's emotions," Manjit wrote in an undated card to Panghali. 

In May 2005, she wrote that she needed to stay connected to Panghali, "Make him love me again like he once did." 

"There was a time when MP thought I was the most [nice] and caring person he knew. Why has that changed -- it's the disease," Manjit wrote. 

The disease that she speaks of is alcoholism, something she dealt with by attending Al-Anon meetings. 

In a letter to "MP" dated Feb. 15, Manjit wrote, "And I definitely don't want to bring another child into this chaos. The chaos can be simple: you drink and I don't know how to cope. You let us down by not being around. You get upset and mean. You're unreasonable and unreliable." 

*Justice Heather Holmes is scheduled to deliver her verdict in the trial on Jan. 14*


jensaltman@theprovince.com 
twitter.com/jensaltman

© Copyright (c) The Province

*source:* http://www.theprovince.com/life/Slain+wife+felt+scared+depressed+powerless/4006949/story.html

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## Siri Kamala (Dec 21, 2010)

Wow.  Yeah.  He definitely killed her then.  This sounds sooo much like my own experience with Domestic Abuse.  I also kept a diary, and like Manjit, I also felt so helpless to fix things.  This man probably has a severe case of anti-social personality disorder -- everything she describes fits that pattern.  The poor dear...  

The problem with a sociopath is that they have completely externalized their locus of self-control. They lose sight of the fact that true and lasting peace and happiness can ONLY come from within. NO ONE outside of yourself can give it to you. No job. No amount of money. No fame. No power. Nothing will give you peace and happiness if you cannot remember that you are God's Own Forever, and take joy in knowing that that is all that really matters.

How tragic, for her, and especially for their daughter.  motherlylove

I hope this man never ever leaves prison. And I hope he comes to see the harm he has done.


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