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Canada deports street racer for
killing woman
WSN Network
Vancouver: The
Canadian Supreme Court last Friday ordered an Indian immigrant to be
deported after his conviction for killing an elderly white woman in
Vancouver in 2000. Sukhvir Singh Khosa was convicted of killing
51-year-old Irene Thorpe in a deadly car race with a fellow Indian
in Vancouver
nine years ago. The woman was out on an evening stroll when she was
mowed down by Khosa’s car.
During the trial,
the court was told that he was driving at 120 km in the 50-km speed
zone in competition with Bhahadur Singh Bhalru. Bhalru was deported
to India in 2005.
Denying that he was
street racing, Khosa maintained he was only driving fast and lost
control of his vehicle, killing Thorpe. After the trial, he was
ordered to undergo a two-year house arrest, and then face the
Immigration Board, which was to decide his fate.
Under Canadian
immigration laws, a non-citizen can be deported for a criminal
offence carrying sentence up to 10 years. Khosa, who came to Canada
with his parents as a teenager, was still a permanent resident of
Canada at the time of the crime.
On his completion
of twoyear house arrest, Khosa was ordered deported to India by the
Immigration Board as he insisted that he was not street racing (a
serious offence in Canada) but only driving fast when he hit the
victim.
Khosa, who is
father of two Canadian-born children, challenged the Immigration
Board’s deportation order in the federal court of appeal on
humanitarian grounds.
The court of appeal
ruled in his favour, overturning his deportation order. But the
Immigration Board challenged the matter in the Supreme Court of
Canada, which in its 7-1 ruling on Friday restored the board’s
deportation order against Khosa.
In its ruling, the
apex court said there was reason for the appeal court to stay the
board’s deportation order.
11
March 2009
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