Manmeet Singh, who admitted earlier this month to the brutal daytime slaying of his estranged wife, will have no chance of parole for 16 years.
On July 28, 2011, Singh walked into the newspaper officer where Ravinder Kaur Bhangu worked and attacked her with a hatchet, cracking her skull, and then stabbed her repeatedly with a knife. The court heard that he was upset because she had left him.
Singh was initially charged with first-degree murder, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder on June 10 on what was to be the first day of his trial. The conviction carries an automatic life sentence, with parole eligibility set by a judge. On Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mirian Maisonville set Singh's at 16 years, which is what both Crown and defence had agreed was suitable.