Woman told police husband killed nephew but testimony differs during trial
CBC
Hours after being shot, a woman told police her husband may have killed her nephew and tried to kill her because she was away from home in the company of another man, court heard.
A voir dire opened Friday at a trial for Sherwood Park funeral home owner Gamdar Brar, who is accused of first-degree murder in 19-year-old Harmanjot Bhattal's May 2021 death, and of attempting to kill his wife Satvir Brar with a firearm.
A voir dire – a trial within a trial – is underway because Crown prosecutors are seeking permission to cross examine Satvir Brar, who is their own witness. The Crown is arguing that her testimony so far during the trial contradicts what she said during a 90-minute interview with RCMP in the hours following the shooting.
Usually, the Crown can only direct question one of their own witnesses. Being allowed to cross examine her would allow for a different style of questioning.
While testifying in the trial, Satvir Brar said she doesn't know who was driving her family's black BMW as it pursued her and her nephew through Sherwood Park on May 7, 2021, or who shot them.
During the voir dire Friday, prosecutors played a recording of her conversation with RCMP officers about three hours after she'd been shot.
She spoke to police in the emergency room at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton while awaiting surgery. Her hand and arm were injured in the shooting.
In the recording, Satvir Brar tells police about a fight with her husband the night before at their Strathcona County home where they lived with their two sons.
"I don't know what I did wrong," she said, explaining that sometimes he would get mad and swear at her.
She told him she was leaving and he told her not to come back, she told police.
She walked for 40 minutes and then called her nephew to come pick her up. After trying to check into a hotel and deciding against it, they drove to her sister-in-law's house in Edmonton, she told police.
While there, Satvir Brar said she spoke on the phone with a police officer who'd been called to her home, and asked them to wait there for her but she said they told her they wouldn't.
"The police officer shouldn't have left when I asked them to stay," she said on the recording.
She said she also spoke to one of her sons who was crying and told her his father told them she was with another man.
It's arguably Dawson City, Yukon's most iconic and beloved old taverns, and in a town renowned for its watering holes — another bar famously serves drinks garnished with a desiccated human toe — that's saying something.
First Nation expresses opposition to major projects ahead of prime minister's visit to Prince Rupert
Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Prince Rupert today to meet with Coastal First Nations to discuss major projects in northern B.C.
The Manitoba government will not order public servants back into the office full-time, bucking recent moves by Ontario and Alberta.
Before the sun rises and the first customers arrive, Dora Rzeszutek unlocks the front door of B & B Snack Bar restaurant in London's Woodfield neighbourhood.
When U.S. President Donald Trump’s top trade representative outlined conditions Canada would need to meet with a mandatory review of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) looming, familiar issues like dairy supply management made the list.
Thousands of people living in Newfoundland and Labrador started the day without electricity, as Newfoundland Power dealt with widespread outages.
More than 700 people have been evacuated from Kashechewan First Nation so far, according to the community’s executive director. But most of the community is still waiting to leave.
A community-based response team being piloted in Dartmouth, N.S., offering an alternative model to police to support people in crisis, is expanding to 24-hour service.
N.B. Power estimated it would need to increase revenue from power rates by almost five per cent to pay for electricity from a new natural gas generating station in Tantramar, according to documents filed with the Energy and Utilities Board.
Local groups for snowmobilers, skiers and snowshoers are working hard to clear trails in and around Flin Flon, Man., but poor snow conditions and damage from last summer's fires — hundreds of downed trees, burned terrain, upturned roots and destroyed buildings and bridges — is making it difficult.
When Jermain McKenzie thinks of Trevor Dubois, he remembers an infectious laugh and a sense of humor that makes you laugh until you’re crying.
This story is a collaboration between CBC Visual Investigations and the Investigative Journalism Foundation (IJF).
Overcrowding at the Niagara Detention Centre (NDC) reached its highest levels since 2019 in the first half of 2025 — with an occupancy rate of 136 per cent, according to data analyzed by CBC News.