Bindra gets three years added to sentence

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 9, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge judge who reserved her decision on sentencing of a man who is already serving a prison sentence for drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women several years ago, and who was found guilty of sexually assaulting another woman in May, provided her decision Tuesday.
The case of Sohil Bindra, 37, who was found guilty in May of sexually assaulting a fourth woman by Judge Sylvia Oishi, had his matter brought back to Lethbridge court of justice Tuesday.
The Crown and defence had presented their sentencing suggestions to Oishi last month in which the Crown asked to add four years to Bindra’s sentence to be served consecutively to the one he is already serving, based on the aggravating factors, specifically noting that the assault happened during a domestic relationship, while the victim was asleep and vulnerable and violating the sanity of her home.
The defence had argued that two years consecutive sentence would be appropriate to give opportunity for rehabilitation, and to not extinguish any possibility Bindra would have after his release to get back on his feet.
Judge Oishi decided to add three years to Bindra’s sentence to be served consecutively to the one he is already serving.
Bindra is currently serving a global sentence of 12 years for sexual assaults and related offences committed upon three separate women, of which he has approximately seven and a half years left to serve.
“The offences for which I sentence here today is distinct from the others, in that it occurred in the context of an intimate partner relationship, it did not involve significant features of the other offences. In addition, the offence before me occurred approximately a year-and-a-half before he victimized other women,” said Oishi.
She said that had Bindra’s been sentenced on or around the time of the commission of this offence in 2017, the court would have had every reason to believe, given his lack of criminal record, his relative youth, family support, education and family and employment history, that he could be rehabilitated after serving a sentence.
 “Unfortunately, we now have the information that he went on to commit multiple further sexual assaults on multiple women in the years that followed. The factor of rehabilitation then now plays less of a role in sentencing in this case than it otherwise might have,” said Oishi.
 She said Bindra is a man who has exhibited a disturbing and dangerous pattern of behaviour over a long period of time.
 “Rehabilitation reflects society’s hope that one day Mr. Bindra might return to a pro social and productive life after serving his sentences, but in this case that hope is diminished given that he is already engaged in serial offending that escalated in severity and frequency after this first offence. As a result, I do not find that the aspect of rehabilitation in this case detracts in any significant way from the paramount need for denunciation and deterrence,” said Oishi.  
For this particular matter, the complainant, who can’t be identified because of a publication ban, testified in April this year that 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 were 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.
During her sentencing, Judge Oishi requested Bindra to be registered as a sexual offender for life, to provide a sample of his DNA, to have a mandatory weapons prohibition for life and for ten years, and to not have contact with the victim, direct or indirect, while he is incarcerated.
Bindra has two more matters that are set to come back to court on Aug. 24.
-with files from Delon Shurtz

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