Authorities have given full parole to an ex-high school teacher from British Columbia who strangled his pregnant wife to death, killing their unborn child and subsequently burning her body.
Mukhtiar Singh Panghali, a 51-year-old former Surrey, B.C. high school teacher was granted full parole by the Parole Board of Canada after being sentenced to life for the 2006 murder of his pregnant wife, Manjit Kaur Panghali. The incident occurred in their Surrey home, and her charred remains were later found on a beach near Roberts Bank in Delta, B.C.
After killing Manjit, who was four months pregnant, Panghali made a distressing and tearful public appeal seeking assistance in finding his then “missing” wife. The murder was executed while their young daughter was left unattended at home.
Panghali was initially arrested and charged with second-degree murder in 2007. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in 2011 with no possibility of parole for 15 years. He lost an appeal on his life sentence for second-degree murder in 2012. He was then eventually granted day parole in July 2022, after which he secured full-time employment with an undisclosed company, according to the Parole Board of Canada.
Angela Marie MacDougall, the executive director of Vancouver’s Battered Women’s Support Services, voiced her concerns about the parole decision.
“This tells us everything we need to know about how ineffective the criminal legal system is in meeting any kind of justice for victims of intimate partner and domestic violence,” she told Global News.
Even though the Parole Board found that Panghali had “accepted responsibility for (his) actions and choices.”
“You are assessed as a high risk of violence towards a partner,” stated the Parole Board’s release decision issued on October 6th.
“Should you involve yourself in a relationship, this would be the high-risk situation for you and must be monitored closely by your (case management team) through the relevant special condition to restrict you from initiating relationships with women without the permission of your parole supervisor.”
Several conditions have been imposed on Panghali’s parole, including abstaining from alcohol, participating in a domestic violence treatment plan, and reporting any relationships with women. He is also prohibited from contacting the victim’s family, including his own daughter, who is now being cared for by Manjit’s sister.
