September 14, 2005 – 18:25
www.macleans.ca
TERRI THEODORE
VANCOUVER (CP) – On the day of his deportation to India, one of the men responsible for the death of a woman as the result of a street race apologized to the victim’s family on Wednesday.
“I continue to feel a great deal of remorse about the death of Irene Thorpe,” Bahadur Singh Bhalru, 26, told a crush of media at Vancouver International Airport.
Tears streamed down his mother’s face as she stood beside her son when he read his statement.
“I have apologized and recently have tried to reach out to her family,” Bhalru said. “I wanted our two families to meet and talk before I left Canada.”
The apology came too late for Nina Rivet, Thorpe’s sister, who followed the two street racers through the court and immigration process.
“If (he) felt remorse, I would not be standing here 4 1/2 years later. He would have stepped up to the plate (and taken) responsibility,” she said. “He still does not do that to this day.”
Rivet said she feels no compassion for Bhalru’s situation.
“He killed my sister. He’s alive and breathing. All he gets is sent back to India.”
“What does our family get? A pine box,” she said.
Bhalru lost his last appeal on Tuesday when a Federal Court judge ruled there was no evidence of possible harm if he was sent back to his native India.
Bhalru and Sukvir Singh Khosa were racing down a Vancouver street in November 2000 when Khosa’s car lost control, hitting Thorpe, who was 51, as she walked down the sidewalk.
Both men were convicted of criminal negligence causing death in 2002.
Khosa remains in Canada and is also appealing his immigration status.
Bhalru arrived in Canada in 1997 with his family.
He said he still views himself as Canadian even though he was born in India.
“I have worked hard and paid taxes in Canada. I have close family and friends in Canada,” he said.
“I also committed my crime in Canada, and paid my penalty in Canada.”
Sukhy Mahal is a close friend to the Bhalru family and went to the airport to say goodbye.
“He has nobody there,” she said, concerned about his arrival in India. “I can’t imagine what he’s going to go through once he gets there.”
She said all of Bhalru’s family is in Canada.
“The mother is devastated,” Mahal said. “He’s basically being given a lifetime sentence for something that was an accident.”
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Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Justice or Revenge
http://necolehas2manyopinions.blogspot.com
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Perhaps there’s hope yet …
http://caterwauls.blogspot.com/2005/09/perhaps-theres-hope-yet.html
The recent deportation of Bahadur Singh Bhalru might be a sign that someone has been listening to the people of Canada. Having been convicted of killing a woman during a street race, Canadians everywhere were dismayed and outraged at the lenient sentence.
Perhaps we are finally going to send a message to those who would come to Canada and bring with them their disdain for our system that it is a privilege to become a Canadian, not a right.
Maybe it will put others on a ‘best behavior’ status.
