NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. - A B.C. man convicted of murdering his pregnant wife will have to spend 15 years behind bars before he is eligible to apply for parole.
Mukhtiar Panghali of Surrey received an automatic life sentence for the second-degree murder of his wife, Manjit, whose strangled and burned body was found on a beach in Delta in October 2006.
Panghali showed no reaction as B.C. Supreme Court Judge Heather Holmes explained that the parole eligibility was higher than the minimum 10 years because of the "egregious circumstances" of the 31-year-old school teacher's death.
The judge noted that the young mother was particularly vulnerable because she was five-months pregnant with her second child when she was killed.
The judge said the sentence should send a message about domestic abuse.
Panghali's was one of three violent deaths within a few months that prompted questions about domestic violence within Vancouver's Indo-Canadian community.
