Cousin pleads guilty in wedding death

Tensions were high as a man pleaded guilty Monday to the slaying of another man at a Vancouver wedding reception.

Aneil Sanghera pleaded guilty to the April 2017 manslaughter of Pardeep (Terry) Dulay, 41, at a celebration being held at the Fraserview Hall in south Vancouver.

The victim was involved in a physical altercation just before he was found dead by party guests, according to a Vancouver police report at the time.

Police initially believed that Dulay, who is a cousin of the accused, had died of a heart attack, but then a video of the altercation surfaced.

In June 2017, charges were laid against Sanghera.

The small courtroom was jammed Monday with members of the victim’s family, including his parents, as well as members of the accused’s family.

Before accepting the guilty plea, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Margot Fleming conducted an inquiry to determine if the plea was informed, voluntary and unequivocal.

Through his lawyer, Joven Narwal, Sanghera agreed that he hadn’t been coerced and had entered the plea with the knowledge that sentencing was up to the discretion of the judge.

After the plea was entered, some members of the two families confronted each another inside and then outside the courtroom as sheriffs worked to keep the two groups separated.

“He killed their own blood,” one woman said loudly outside the courtroom, an apparent reference to the family connection between the two men.

“I can’t believe you don’t feel sorry for what happened here,” said another woman, who appeared to be speaking to the accused’s family.

Members of the victim’s family gathered around Crown counsel outside court, as a number of sheriffs stood by making sure that the two families remained apart.

Sanghera, who was dressed in a suit and tie and sat quietly in the prisoner’s dock during the brief court appearance, will next appear on Jan. 22 to set a date for sentencing. He will remain on bail until the sentencing.