Accused's wife tells murder trial she doesn't know who shot her or killed her nephew
CBC
A woman whose husband is charged with attempting to murder her told court she didn't see who shot her and doesn't remember what she told police afterwards.
Gamdur Brar is on trial for the first-degree murder of his wife's 19-year-old nephew Harmanjot Bhattal, and the attempted murder with a firearm of his wife Satvir Brar.
Gamdur Brar, 45, has pleaded not guilty to both counts.
The judge-only trial began in late November, and prosecutors have called several witnesses who testified to seeing a car chase and shootout on Baseline Road in Sherwood Park on the morning of May 7, 2021.
On Thursday, Satvir Brar was called as a Crown witness and said that while she was shot and went to the hospital with injuries to her right hand and left arm, she doesn't know who pulled the trigger.
On entering the courtroom, Brar hesitated when she was asked to go to the witness stand and expressed concern about her proximity to the accused, who was sitting at the defence table with his lawyers.
Court of King's Bench Justice Steve Hillier told her he understood, but explained Brar has a right to be in the courtroom.
Several of Gamdur Brar's relatives sat in the front row of the trial, some of whom have already been called as witnesses.
While being questioned by Crown prosecutor Photini Papadatou, Satvir Brar said she arrived home on the evening of May 6, 2021 to find her husband asleep on the couch.
She said she saw an bottle and a glass on the table, which angered her, so she decided to leave their acreage on foot, wearing a jacket over her pajamas.
"I'm going to really scare him. Maybe he thinks I did something to myself. Then he will stop drinking," she said, explaining why she decided to walk instead of taking one of the families' several vehicles.
After walking for some time, she called her nephew Harmanjot Bhattal to pick her up.
Court heard that Bhattal had come to Canada as a student, and that his aunt helped him get settled. She told court she called her own relative because if she went to an in-law they would tell her husband where she was.
The pair first drove to a Sherwood Park hotel and that Bhattal offered to pay for a room for his aunt, Satvir Brar told court.
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