Nine years after a mom of three was slain in her Surrey home, the long-awaited trials for her accused killers have once again been delayed.
Amanpreet Kaur Bahia, 33, was found dead downstairs in her Newton-area house on the morning of Feb. 7, 2007. Family members returned from an outing to find her lying in a pool of blood. Two of her young daughters had been home alone with their mother’s body for several hours before anyone arrived.
Amanpreet’s husband Baljinder Singh Bahia and another man, Eduard Viktorovitch – both charged with first-degree murder – were slated to start their trial on Monday (Feb. 1).
The trial did not go ahead, however, and has now been adjourned until Sept. 12.
The postponement, said Criminal Justice Branch spokesperson Neil MacKenzie, was made on behalf of Bahia’s lawyer, who wasn’t able to proceed with the scheduled dates.
A third accused in the case will be tried separately from the two men. Tanpreet Kaur Athwal is also facing a first-degree murder charge. Voir dire proceedings were scheduled to begin for Athwal on May 2, with the actual trial starting Sept. 12. But as that’s when Bahia and Baranec’s trial is now set for, Athwal’s will now have to be rescheduled, said MacKenzie.
The trio was charged in February 2011, four years after Amanpreet’s murder. They were then ordered to stand trial after a preliminary hearing in provincial court in May 2012. A trial was initially scheduled for January 2014 before being postponed several times.
Both Baranec and Bahia’s, and Athwal’s trials are expected to be heard by jury in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.