"Your Honour,
My name is Ramandeep Chahal and I am the niece of the late Jagtar Gill (daughter of Jagtar’s sister Balwinder Chanal)
I am here so that the full impact of the crime is brought to the attention of this Hounourable Court and Your Honour on behalf of Jagtar’s parents Ajit Singh, aged 73 years and Jagir Kaur, age 71 years. They have a language barrier, and they have dictated this document to me so that I can speak on their behalf. Here are their words:
Onn January 29, 2014, our daughter Jagtar was brutally murdered by Bhupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald present in this court. How do we know this? The jury returned a verdict. The facts of the case were proven beyond a reasonable doubt and the verdict was rendered. Guilty!
Words cannot express the pain and anguish that we, at this age, and our family and friends have endured since murder of our daughter Jagtar. The defendant’s decision to take the lift of a human being with no regard for the effect it may have on others is unimaginable and unpardonable.
The loss of our daughter is beyond word. There will be no one to say to us Bapujee (Father) and Bibijee (Mother), no more birthday parties, backyard gatherings, holiday celebrations or other family activities to share with her. The laughter, hugs, guidance and advice, sense of security and those opportunities to say “I love you” are forever gone. We as parents, and our entire family, and forever “broken”.
Compassion is a word commonly used for and by defendants. However we ask how much compassion the defendants considered when the decision was made to murder our beloved and helpless daughter Jagtar, who was weak, broken and most vulnerable at the time of murder.
To say the least, the financial affect on the family has also been devastating.
Jagtar was murdered 30 months ago; the pain never leaves us. We and our son Satnam, and daughters Harjinder and Balwinder, my grand children who love Jagtar and haunted by recurring nightmares of the horror that Jagtar suffered.. Medication for high blood pressure and post-traumatic stress disorder allows us to sleep for a short time before the relentless images overwhelm us again.
Jagtar’s children have been robbed of a mother’s love and care and we have been devoid of our daughter’s love, care and compassion. We are all heartbroken and will always remain so.
When Jagtar was murdered, we lost a loving daughter who was herself greatly loved. In the last 30 months, we have watched our family struggle with pain, anger and grief. Our world has been shattered and from the day of the murder of Jagtar, we as parents ask why did this happen to us? Did Jagtar deserve this painful death? Jagtar was a dedicated and loving daughter, mother and sister, and this brutal murder destroyed her life and left us all in irreparable loss and suffering.
Jagtar had a heart as big as the world. She was compassionate, caring and loving. She was extremely hard working and dedicated countless hours of her life working to make the life of her family and children better.
The best way we can describe our grief to the fortunate people who have never had to experience the murder of a loved one is to imagine the worst emotional pain that you’ve ever experienced in your life, and then multiply it by a thousand. It’s a pain that never goes away. There is no closure as we so often hear. There is no, “moving on”…there is nothing…and we mean absolutely nothing…that makes you feel better. They say “Time heals all wounds”, but we have to disagree. The only thing time has done for our family is to move the tragic loss of Jagtar further away. It hasn’t made it better.
We hope that in time we are able to remember the good times we had with our daughter without having to blink those images away first. We lay awake at night thinking about that to write in this submission. Sometimes the letter is angry, sometimes it’s sorrowful, and sometimes it makes us smile to remember her. But there is one common denominator, it is always painful! There is no way that one can prepare themselves for this. Most believe that is will never happen to them. We were those people until Bhupinderpal and Gurpreet mercilessly murdered our daughter Jagtar.
Your Honour. Please consider our family, our children, our grand children, who will never be able to forget the image of our beloved daughter’s murdered body. We will never hear our daughter Jagtar’s voice again.
Buupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald decided to take our daughter’s life. They thought is out, planned it, and then these cowards took Jagtar’s last breath. They inflicted on her unimaginable pain and suffering. Even more agonizing is that Bhupinderpal and Gurpreet did not have the courage to stand up, take the blame and be truthful. Instead, they made all attempts to deny the truth and escape the consequences.
The defendants Bhupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald say in your courtroom, unmoved by the pictures of our daughter’s lifeless body covered in the pool of blood. Is this the reaction of a man purports to be in love with the woman in these pictures? Did Gurpreet Ronald show an ounce of remorse? At every available opportunity during the trial, Bhupinderpal and Gurpreet gave Jagtar a death sentence. Unfortunately there are laws that protect their life, but they definitely deserve to be behind the bars for as long as possible to keep our family and society safe. We thought that there would be a time during the sentencing that we would be able to tell Bhupinderpal Gill exactly what we think of him. We were wrong. In a way that is a good thing, because we do not want to waste any more energy worrying, talking or even thinking about what a waste of flesh he is. In fact, after the sentencing, he no longer exists to us.
We as parents, and our other children Satnam, Harjinder Sidu and Balwinder Chanal and their children have to spend the rest of their lives with the reality that Jagtar, one of their own, has been taken from us. We think there is no sentence in the world that can be given that can make up for the damage that was done. Let these two defendants spend rest of their life in prison.
Bhupinderpal Gill and Gurpreet Ronald do not deserve to be shown ANY grace or mercy. Even 25 years is not enough for this crime. It does not bring our Jagtar back. It does not give us back the 30 months of our lives we all have lost.
Jagtar, your short life enriched the lives of so many people. You will never be forgotten. Loved forever. Our dear Jagtar as you know that we could not interred or scattered your ashes following your death but we promise to do so now per your wishes in India. Our darling daughter, may you now rest in peace.
Finally, we wish to express our sincerest gratitude for being allowed this opportunity of expression.
Thank you for your consideration."