696c93aa   
   XPost: alt.true-crime, van.general   
   From: gregcarrsober@gmail.com   
      
   VANCOUVER - More than 14 years after the body of a Vancouver high   
   school student was dumped on a deserted street, her killer is finally   
   facing justice.   
      
   Ninderjit Singh pleaded guilty Monday in B.C. Supreme Court to the   
   second-degree murder of 18-year-old Poonam Randhawa.   
      
   The plea caps what was one of the longest manhunts in Vancouver police   
   history, spanning at least two Canadian provinces and two U.S. states.   
      
   Defence counsel Russ Chamberlain said outside of court that his client   
   — who is not a Canadian citizen — will face a sentence of life in   
   prison with no possibility of parole for 10 years and then deportation   
   to India.   
      
   "It's a good result for the administration of justice," said   
   Chamberlain.   
      
   "It puts to bed a long investigation. It brings finality for the   
   family and it brings certainty to the results of the police   
   investigation and the criminal prosecution."   
      
   Vancouver police held a news conference in August 2011 after Singh was   
   arrested in California.   
      
   "We got him," Deputy Chief Warren Lemcke told the media. "After years   
   of searching, near-misses and heartbreaking attempts, we got him."   
      
   Lemcke described Randhawa as beautiful, with a bright smile and bubbly   
   spirit.   
      
   He said it was the young woman's spirit that kept her parents going   
   after losing their son to illness, until their daughter was killed in   
   January 1999.   
      
   Members of Randhawa's family, police and prosecutors declined to   
   comment following the plea.   
      
   The judge has set a sentencing hearing for March 27 and 28.   
      
   Chamberlain said Crown counsel advised him Thursday it was willing to   
   accept a plea of second-degree murder from Singh who had been   
   initially charged with first-degree murder.   
      
   Chamberlain said he was in favour of the deal and advised Singh to   
   take it, but it wasn't until Monday morning that the former truck   
   driver actually signed the papers.   
      
   "It was the right thing for him to do because I felt there was, on the   
   evidence as I knew it, a substantial likelihood that he would be found   
   guilty of first-degree murder," said Chamberlain.   
      
   The tragedy dates back to Jan. 26, 1999 when Randhaw's body was found   
   along what police have said was a deserted lane near Sir Winston   
   Churchill secondary school.   
      
   She had just turned 18.   
      
   Chamberlain said his client fled first to Seattle, Wash., and then to   
   California where he managed to live a double life as a truck driver.   
      
   The investigation took police to Calgary, Alta., and included a   
   tactic, known as a Mr. Big sting, in which undercover operators posed   
   as criminals to elicit information on Singh's whereabouts, said   
   Chamberlain, noting the effort was unsuccessful.   
      
   The case even appeared on the TV show "America’s Most Wanted."   
      
   But Singh eluded capture by altering his appearance, gaining weight,   
   growing a beard and even wearing a turban, police said.   
      
   His luck ran out in August 2011, when he was arrested while driving   
   away from his home in Riverside County, Calif., about a two-hour drive   
   from Los Angeles, with his wife and two young children.   
      
   Before the arrest, a highway patrol officer — who had been dispatched   
   as part of a sting operation to pull over the man's big rig and to   
   issue a ticket — obtained thumb prints to confirm his identity.   
      
   Chamberlain said he doesn't know how police tracked down his client,   
   but noted the plea means Singh will also be lost to his wife and   
   children because he will never be eligible to return to the U.S. where   
   his family lives.   
      
   "He's going to be separated from his wife and his children, and the   
   only place he's going to have a meaningful relationship with his wife   
   or children will likely be in his home country which is the state of   
   Punjab, India."   
      
   Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier story   
   misspelled Randhawa.   
      
      
   Read more:   
   http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Former+Vancouver+pleads+guil   
   y+1999+killing+18yearold/8080226/story.html#ixzz2NHf7VzP1   
      
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