NEW WESTMINSTER — Final submissions will be heard Thursday and Friday in the trial of Gursimar Bedi, who is charged with manslaughter using a firearm and accessory after the fact in the 2011 shooting and stabbing death of Maple Batalia.
The Crown has finished its case and Bedi's lawyers did not call evidence in defence. The trial is being heard by Justice Terry Schultes in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
Gurjinder Dhaliwal, who was Batalia's boyfriend before she ended their four-year relationship, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced by Schultes last week to life in prison with no eligibility to apply for parole for 21 years.
The court heard Dhaliwal was obsessed with the 19-year-old Simon Fraser University student and couldn't handle it after she broke off with him. She was shot in the back and stabbed while returning to her car after a study session in the Surrey campus's library.
Batalia was an aspiring actress and model who studied health sciences. Dhaliwal was expected to go on trial for first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge on the opening day of what would have been his trial.
tom.zytaruk@thenownewspaper.com