Man gets 17 months in jail for assaulting wife
A man who assaulted his wife between 200 and 300 times over 25 years, including kicking her while she was pregnant, breaking a chair over her head and coming at her with an axe, has been sentenced to four years in jail.
A man who assaulted his wife between 200 and 300 times over 25 years, including kicking her while she was pregnant, breaking a chair over her head and coming at her with an axe, has been sentenced to four years in jail.
After receiving 31 months' credit for presentence custody, Jaswant Singh Dhaliwal, 54, will have a net sentence of 17 months in jail for his assaults on his ex-wife, who is identified only as PD in a court ruling.
Because the net sentence imposed by BC Supreme Court Justice Murray Blok fell below two years, under the law, Dhaliwal cannot be subject to an order that he be supervised in the community for 10 years following release, an order that had been sought by the Crown.
Evidence was that Dhaliwal, a heavy drinker, beat the mother of three on a regular basis, particularly after 1991, following a period of separation and a subsequent reconciliation.
From 1991 until a final separation in 2006, he assaulted her every three or four weeks at a minimum.
At the beginning of their marriage, the assaults consisted slapping or punching with a closed fist, and escalated to him kicking her in the stomach or back and pulling her hair.
At times he used objects as weapons to strike her, including a telephone/clock unit, a rolling pin, children's toys, a spoon and a chair.
She suffered a broken nose twice, in addition to a broken wrist, injuries to her eye, upper chest, shoulder and tailbone. There were frequent bruises and nosebleeds.
One of his convictions for common assault had him kicking PD while she was pregnant and another had him kicking her in the back and thigh while he was wearing steel-toed boots.
On a conviction for assault with a weapon, he told PD he was going to "fix" her, went away and returned with an axe, coming at her with axe.
Only the vigorous physical intervention of the couple's two sons stopped the axe assault from being more serious.
The Crown sought the long-term supervision order because Dhaliwal continued to offend after the 2006 separation, their 2007 divorce and his ex-wife's remarriage.
He did not accept that the marriage was over and was convicted of multiple breaches of restraining orders and other protective conditions. In addition, he was convicted of uttering threats to kill PD and her new husband.
The Crown sought a "global" sentence of 7.5 years in prison on the 13 counts he was convicted of in December 2012, arguing that the sentences for the counts should be consecutive.
The defence argued that it was not appropriate to impose sentence for each count and then simply add them up.
The judge accepted the defence argument and imposed the net sentence of 17 months in jail, ruling out the possibility of the long-term offender designation. Blok's oral reasons were given on November 29. His written reasons were posted online on Tuesday.