The elderly father of a murder victim fled the room in tears. His sobs could be heard outside the court as photos of his daughter’s battered and bloodied body were shown in court. The Crown's contention is that this was a brutal and horrific murder and the photos certainly supported that. It's clear this doting mother of three put up a fight but in her weakened state was ultimately overpowered.
Jagtar Gill's father certainly knows how his daughter died; but knowing is one thing. Seeing is another.
When the Crown produced photos of the murder scene, then of Jagtar’s bloodied body, Ajit Mann burst into tears and fled the courtroom.
The photos showed the family room sofa covered in blood, the 43-year-old mother dead on the rug. There are deep gashes in her left wrist and neck and cuts to her abdomen. And a pool of blood around her head where she had been repeatedly hit. That last photo drew a gasp from those in the courtroom.
Her husband Bhupinderpal Gill and his alleged lover Gurpreet Ronald are on trial for first degree murder. The Crown contends the two planned the murder so they could be together.
It was the couple’s 15-year old-daughter who found her mother dead in her Barrhaven home on January 29, 2014. Jagtar Gill had been recovering from a hernia operation the day before. The Crown alleges the daughter had wanted to stay with her mother that day but her father insisted on bringing her with, to run errands. She left her mother on the couch that day, a pack of ice to help with the pain, her purse and phone nearby.
Now those items are part of the photos, part of court evidence along with three serrated kitchen knives left in the sink and a weight lifting bar hidden in the basement in a box with the family's Christmas tree.
There are photos, too, of where an NCC employee found a knife along a trail on Timm Road and a pair of blue disposable gloves, with a fingertip missing. And photos of the tip of a disposable glove found right beside Jagtar Gill's body.
The two accused in this case face the courtroom, feet apart from each other in a prisoner box. They hide their emotions most time but when that photo of Jagtar Gill was shown, with her head battered in, her husband flinched and turned away.
