A former Burnaby resident convicted in the murder of two men whose bodies were found in the trunk of a car in Pickering, Ont. in 2009 has lost an appeal at the Ontario Court of Appeal.
Vijay Ganesh Singh, who once had homes in Burnaby and Toronto, is serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 23 years.
In 2013, an Ontario jury found him and his co-accused, John Le, guilty of two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of kidnapping.
The charges relate to the killings of Harjinder Singh Sandhu, 29, and Puneet Singh Chhina, 26, who were bound, shot and stuffed into the trunk of a car found abandoned on Rosebank Road in Pickering on May 5, 2009, according to court documents.
Singh, who described himself as a gangster, was an importer of illegal drugs.
In early 2009, when Singh was living in the Lower Mainland, he arranged for the transportation of 35 kilograms of cocaine from Los Angeles to Toronto.
When the shipment arrived in Toronto, it looked like packages of cocaine, but it was actually packages of drywall, according to court documents.
The cocaine belonged to one “Ahmun,” who was the leader of the United Nations Gang, according to court documents, and Singh needed to recover the cocaine shipment or at least find out who stole it.
He suspected Sandhu had been the “jacker” and lured him to his family’s home in Toronto with promises of cheap heroin.
Chhina had just been along for the ride, according to information presented in court.
Police executed a number of search warrants during the investigation, including at Singh's Burnaby apartment.
Singh and Le were sentenced in February 2014.
The pair appealed their convictions at Ontario’s Court of Appeal this past May, arguing the trial judge in the case hadn’t properly instructed the jury.
Le also appealed his sentence, arguing it was disproportionate given his role in the killing.
On Tuesday, however, the court unanimously dismissed both appeals, ruling the trial judge had instructed the jury properly and had not imposed a disproportionate sentence on Le.
“The trial judge reviewed the backgrounds of both offenders, noting that each one had an extensive criminal record, little education, and scarce legal gainful employment,” states the ruling. “He also acknowledged the positive reference letters filed in support of each offender. He then considered the numerous serious aggravating factors in this case. Having regard to the entire case, the trial judge concluded that ‘these offences qualify for the description as among the worst group of offences and that Le and Singh are among the worst group of offenders.’”
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