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Court killer sought revenge: prosecutor; [Burlington Edition]
The Hamilton Spectator. Hamilton, Ont.: Dec 14, 1993. pg. B.6
Kuldip Singh Samra was out for revenge against his "mortal enemies" a decade ago when he shot three men in a Toronto courtroom, killing two of them, a prosecutor said yesterday.
Mr. Samra, 47, deliberately shot the men after a judge ruled against him in a civil law suit, prosecutor Uriel Priwes said in his final arguments to an Ontario Court jury.
Mr. Samra is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Oscar Fonseca and Bhupinder Pannu and attempted murder in the shooting of Amarjit Tatla.
Mr. Tatla and Mr. Pannu were on the winning side of a civil suit against Mr. Samra over elections for a Sikh temple. Mr. Fonseca was their lawyer.
They were shot in an Osgoode Hall courtroom on March 18, 1982, immediately after a judge ruled against Mr. Samra.
Following the shootings, Mr. Samra fled to India, where he was eventually arrested and returned to Canada.
Mr. Priwes told the jury Samra had "undying hatred" for those who opposed him and, when the ruling went against him, he "turned a courtroom into a shooting gallery."
The shootings amounted to Mr. Samra saying to his enemies, "Damn you and damn your lawyer," the prosecutor said.
Mr. Samra defended himself at the 10-week-long trial.
But Munyonzwe Hamalengwa, his legal advisor, argued Monday that Mr. Samra was in a deep depression at the time and actually intended to kill himself in the courtroom.
Mr. Samra went into a trance, "exploded" and turned on the victims when one of them made a rude and insulting gesture at him, Mr. Hamalengwa said.
He had been drinking heavily as a result of marital, financial, legal and job problems and when Mr. Tatla made the insulting gestures, "he lost it and just went crazy," Mr. Hamalengwa said.
"It happened in the heat of the moment."
The jury will begin deliberating on the case after the judge delivers his final instructions today.
Credit: FROM CANADIAN PRESS
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Criminal Lawyers Association The Law Society Of Upper Canada
Last Modified: August 11, 2007
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