Bindra trial cancelled after Crown stays charges
By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on July 15, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com A Lethbridge man already serving a prison sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting three women several years ago, is no longer facing similar charges against a fourth woman.Sohil Bindra was scheduled for a one-week trial beginning July 31, but the matter was brought forward to a hearing Friday in Lethbridge court of justice where charges of sexual assault, choking with intent, assault and administering a drug, were stayed and the trial cancelled.
A stay of proceedings allows the court to halt legal action against an accused, although the charges can be brought back within a year should evidence warrant it. The Crown did not provide a reason Friday for the stay.
Bindra, 37, still faces a sexual assault charge against one woman relating to an offence in August 2017. A trial date is expected to be scheduled Aug. 8 for that matter. On the same day he is scheduled to be sentenced on a single charge of sexual assault after being found guilty in May of assaulting another woman.
During trial in April, the complainant, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, testified Bindra tried to grope her while the two were in her home in July 2017. She said she told Bindra she had a bacterial infection and didn’t want to have sex, but after the two went to bed, he began trying to touch her again.
The woman, who at the time was involved in a relationship with the accused, wrapped herself tightly in her blankets and fell asleep, but when she woke up later, Bindra was on top of her having sexual intercourse. She testified that when she confronted Bindra about the assault, he said he couldn’t be charged with rape because they are in a relationship.
Bindra admitted he slept at the woman’s house, but testified he didn’t have sex with her because she told him she had a sexually transmitted disease.
Following the trial, Justice Sylvia Oishia reserved her decision until May when she found Bindra guilty and said she didn’t believe his testimony while she believed the complainant’s.
“Her testimony as to what occurred was detailed, internally consistent and plausible,” Oishi said. “Her responses to questions were given with certainty, without hesitation, and her evidence remained unshaken in cross examination. I found her testimony to be credible in its entirety.”
On the other hand, Oishi said she was troubled by some aspects of Bindra’s testimony, and said his evidence was vague, unclear and inconsistent.
“I do not believe the evidence of Mr. Bindra, I therefore reject it,” she said.
Bindra was convicted late last year on several sex-related offences against three women, and sentenced in February to 12 years in a federal penitentiary, minus the equivalent of just over four years for time he spent in remand custody.
During his trial in November and December of 2021, one of the women testified Bindra assaulted her in his vehicle in the spring of 2018. He was found guilty of sexual assault and administering a noxious substance, in relation to the assault against the woman.
Another woman testified Bindra sexually assaulted her after he gave her and a friend a ride home from a bar in February of 2020. He was found guilty of housebreaking and commit sexual assault, and administering a noxious substance, in relation to that woman.
A third woman told court during the trial that she was too drunk to drive home to Taber following a work Christmas party in December of 2018, and was sexually assaulted after Bindra allowed her to stay the night at his westside home. He was found guilty of administering a noxious substance and sexual assault.
Bindra denied the assault allegations and testified during his trial that the liaisons with the women were consensual. Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter 4
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