A Richmond homebuilder has lost his appeal against a multiple assault and weapon possession conviction.
Gursher Randhawa, a co-owner of Stockholm Construction, was sentenced to 18 months in prison a year ago after slashing and stabbing five men during a bar brawl in Vancouver in May 2014.
Randhawa, who was 26 at the time of the incident, claimed he used the flick-knife in self-defence, after allegedly finding himself getting badly beaten up at the bottom of a pile of bodies in the Brooklyn Bar.
However, a jury found him guilty of five counts of aggravated assault and one count of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
Randhawa – a born and raised Richmondite who had never been in trouble with the law – appealed the conviction, claiming the judge “erred in instructing the jury on self-defence.”
Last month, Judge Susan Griffin dismissed Randhawa’s appeal, stating that the original trial judge’s instructions to the jury were “clear” on the facts of the case.
In the BC Court of Appeal judgment, it was stated that the brawl began after Randhawa attempted to take a photo of two women on the dancefloor and a man was in his way.
An argument and fight ensued, with a number of men joining in.
According to court documents, Randhawa told the court during his trial that he was scared at the time of the brawl and that he was outnumbered and “getting beaten up really badly.”
He was concerned he was getting attacked by gangsters and that retaliatory punches weren’t getting him anywhere so he resorted to the using the three to four-inch folding buck knife to get out of the situation.
While Randhawa was waving around the knife in apparent self-defence, a bouncer and a bystander, who had tried to split up the fight, were among the five people wounded, with non-life threatening injuries.
Prior to sentencing, the trial judge noted that aggravating factors in the case were that Randhawa “brought a knife to a crowded bar and used it to stab five unarmed people.”
Prior to sentencing last year, 29 character references were filed on Randhawa’s behalf, where he was referred to as a “well-respected businessman in the Richmond construction industry” and a “generous person” who had no previous criminal convictions and was not known to police.
Randhawa previously expressed remorse, adding that he no longer carried a knife and that the offences were out of character.
