Man pleads guilty in ‘cowardly’ beating
Sentenced to one year for role in Square One attack on autistic man
A 25-year-old man has pleaded guilty for his role in the vicious beating of a Mississauga man with autism that was caught on video.
Ranjot Singh Dhami, 25, of Surrey, B.C., has been sentenced to serve jail time after he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in Brampton court Wednesday in front of Justice Sandra Caponecchia.
He was also ordered to pro- vide a DNA sample that will go into the national registry. Dhami apologized in court for his actions.
He received a one-year sentence, but because Dhami received extra credit for time spent in pre-sentence custody, he has effectively already served the term.
He left court essentially a free man, subject to conditions imposed as part of his two years of probation.
They include not being in contact with the two other men charged in the attack and not being allowed at or near Square One.
Parmvir Chahil and Jaspaul Uppal (below), both 21 and from B.C., remain before the courts.
Both men are charged with aggravated assault in the March13 attack at the Square One bus terminal that garnered a throng of public media attention.
Peel Regional Police Insp. Norman English called the incident a “cowardly and vicious act on a defenceless 29-year-old autistic male.”
Mississauga Mayor Bonnie Crombie also spoke out about what she described as a “heinous and senseless” attack.
The assault, which occurred around 10:45 p.m., left the 29year-old victim bloodied and with a broken nose.
Officers responded to the attack in the Square One bus terminal at 200 Rathburn Rd. W.
The victim was sitting on the stairs of the lower level of the bus terminal putting on his inline skates when he was approached by three men.
The three surrounded him and “continued to punch and kick (him) multiple times,” said police. They then fled the area. The victim was taken to local hospital with serious, but nonlife-threatening injuries.
Gale Marri, who takes the bus to Square One regularly and has seen the victim on multiple occasions lingering around the terminal, was surprised to hear what transpired in court.” Disgraceful what he got, absolutely disgraceful,” she said.