Man pleads guilty to killing his brother in 2020 Cambridge murder
Content warning: This article contains graphic details.
A 30-year-old man from India has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in his brother’s death.
Court heard Sandeep Jassal stabbed his brother Ajay Kumar nearly 100 times on Linden Drive in Cambridge in September of 2020.
Jassal entered the guilty plea Thursday morning at the Kitchener courthouse.
He appeared in-person wearing a white collar short-sleeve shirt with long-black hair tied back.
Due to the pandemic, Justice Paul Sweeny allowed Jassal to sit next to his lawyer, Hal Mattson, in order to better hear the proceeding amid all of the plexiglass dividers.
Court heard Jassal and his 26-year-old-brother were international students at Conestoga College at the time of the incident.
According to the agreed statement of facts read out by the Crown, Jassal showed up at the townhome where Kumar lived with four other roommates.
The crown stated “the roommates had never met Jassal and have never seen him at the residence until the day in question.”
The roommates reportedly saw Jassal wandering outside the townhome for about two hours. That’s when one of the roommates called Kumar and “Kumar told the roommates to let his brother in and he would be home in one hour.”
Court heard one of the roommates took Jassal to Kumar’s bedroom, and stayed outside the door because Jassal “looked drunk.” Another roommate called Kumar concerned and “Kumar told the roommate not to worry and that the accused always looked that way.”
At about 9:55 p.m. everyone was on the third floor in the home and heard screaming from downstairs.
“They went downstairs towards the main level where they observed the accused stabbing Kumar with a knife in Kumar’s room,” read the Crown.
“Both the accused and the Kumar were covered in blood. The accused was observed to stab Kumar several times in the chest.”
Court heard, Kumar was stabbed 97 times.
Before Jassal was sentence he stood up and told the court quietly “I am very sorry for what happened.”
A second degree murder conviction automatically comes with a life sentence.
Justice Sweeny agreed to a joint submission of no parole eligibility for 10 years.
Outside of the courthouse Jassal’s lawyer Hal Mattson called Jassal’s actions “inexplicable.”
“The accused in this case suffered from some mental health issues and it would appear for no reason he attacked his brother with a knife and killed him,” said Mattson. “There’s no way to describe why it happened. But it’s a tragedy for everybody.”
Mattson noted this was a unique case due the fact that Jassal and Kumar were the only two brothers in their family, and all their family members are in India.
“Usually somebody who is accused of something has some family members some friends someone they can converse with or talk to. This young boy has nobody,” said Mattson. “The only person he had to talk to is me.”
Mattson added, Jassal will be serving his prison term in Canada, but will likely be deported to India when he is eligible for parole in 10 years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING February inflation rate slows to 2.8% as price growth unexpectedly eases
Canada's annual inflation rate unexpectedly fell to 2.8 per cent last month, amid sharp declines in cellular and internet services as well as slower grocery price growth.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.