‘It has been hell. Watching Surjit die tortured me for 18 years. But now he can f ind peace at last’
After Chhokar murderer is f inally convicted, victim’s lover delivers damning indictment of case that tarnished Scottish justice
THE final image of her boyfriend collapsing at her feet on the pavement is one that has never left Elizabeth Bryce; nor has she ever forgotten the sound of his blood gushing from the vicious stab wounds on his body.
Minutes earlier, she had been engrossed in her favourite soapopera, Brookside, as she waited for him to return from work, listening for the familiar sound of his blue Ford Orion pulling up outside.
But as Surjit Singh Chhokar began to make his way to her gate, she became caught up in a real-life tragedy as horrific as anything dreamed up by a TV scriptwriter.
A sudden scream forced her to the window, and she watched in shock as three men grabbed him and a knife glistened under the street-light. She raced to the door to try to help, but it was already too late as she found him leaning against his car, his life quickly ebbing away.
Almost 18 years have passed since that moment, but for the woman who was last week described as the ‘forgotten victim’ in the murder case – a tale that became a stain on the nation’s criminal justice system with accusations of institutional racism – it is a harrowing memory she can now finally try to lay to rest.
Last night, in an exclusive interview with The Scottish Mail on Sunday, Ms Bryce, who has been the key witness at three murder trials linked to the case, said: ‘I feel at peace now. I feel as if Surjit can finally find peace. The fight for justice has been won.’
Last week, Ronnie Coulter, 48, who had evaded justice for almost two decades, was finally convicted for the murder of 32year-old Mr Chhokar.
Coulter, who faces a life sentence, was originally cleared back in 1999. He was retried following reform of the ‘double jeopardy’ law that protected suspects from being charged with the same murder twice. Ms Bryce said: ‘None of us ever expected it to take this long, and it’s a disgrace that it did. We can’t bring Surjit back but it was important he didn’t die in vain. It’s been traumatic for everyone involved getting to this point, and I’m relieved now for his family that Ronnie Coulter will finally answer for the life he took.’
The circumstances surrounding the murder were the subject of two formal inquiries, both of which highlighted failings in the handling of the case and liaison with the victim’s family.
Although Ms Bryce, of Overtown, Lanarkshire, immediately identified the three men to police in November 1998 because she knew them all personally, only Ronnie Coulter was put on trial at first. He was cleared after blaming the other two – his nephew Andrew and David Montgomery. When they were later tried, they pinned the blame on him, with the result that no one was convicted.
Ms Bryce, 56, said: ‘Everyone hates to see injustice. If the prosecutors had handled the investigation properly in the first place, all three men would have stood trial in 1999. I was totally shocked and disgusted. I had spent days in the witness-box at those first two trials, just yards from the men I knew had taken part in the murder of my boyfriend. I felt like
‘I feel as if Surjit can finally find peace’
screaming across the courtroom at them. This time round, like each of the previous times, I’ve felt the anger welling up, but I managed to control it because I knew it wasn’t about me and how I felt. It was about seeing justice for Surjit.’
She added: ‘It’s been hell. Sometimes the pictures in my mind are so vivid of watching Surjit die and not being able to do anything to help. I was tortured for years by those images.
‘But while it’s been devastating for me, it’s nothing compared to what it’s been like for his family. They lost a son, a brother, and it broke their hearts.’
Tragically, last Wednesday’s conviction came too late for the victim’s father Darshan, who had said he would fight to his dying breath for justice. He died of cancer last year.
Following the guilty verdict, the Chhokar family’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, paid tribute to the courage of those who came forward, and he singled out Ms Bryce in particular as the ‘forgotten victim’.
Mr Chhokar, 32, was married to a Sikh wife, Sandi, with whom he had two children. He moved out of their home and had been in a relationship for some years with Ms Bryce, whom he met when she popped into a takeaway shop where he worked.
Looking back on that first meeting, she said: ‘I’d never seen him before but he started flirting with me. He had a sense of humour.
‘On our first date we fell in love. We had so much in common and he was so handsome. I’d never met anyone quite like him before. He never talked about his wife and family much. His had been an arranged marriage and I think I was just so different from what he was used to.’
The waiter often stayed at her home in Garrion Street, Overtown, although he had his own flat in nearby Gowkthrapple. She added: ‘Surjit was a very warm, loving man. There’s nothing he wouldn’t have done for me. We were very close and had many good times together. He was a good man who would have gone to hell and back for anyone.’
Her appearances in the witness box were made all the harder because she knew the Coulters, and Andrew had been ‘like a son’ to her when he was growing up. Ms Bryce added: ‘Seeing them on trial for Surjit’s murder was devastating but I felt nothing but loathing for them. They’ve never shown remorse or made any attempt to apologise. Not that I would accept it if they did.’
At the High Court in Glasgow, Ms Bryce told how, on the night of the murder, she had grabbed a garden spade and ran outside, shouting that she would call the police. The three men ran off, but it was too late to help her partner.
Last night, recalling that awful moment, she said: ‘I think I knew he was going to die because of the amount of blood. I’ll never forget the sound of it gushing from him. It was like someone had turned on a tap.
‘I was hoping for a miracle, but I knew Surjit wouldn’t pull through. He made a horrible noise. The blood just flew and that was it.’
Close to tears, she added: ‘I held him and kept staring at him, willing him to live. I wanted to do something, but there was nothing I could do.’
She went with him to hospital in an ambulance, where a doctor broke the news that Mr Chhokar was dead.
Ms Bryce said: ‘I told her I knew that. I felt sick to the bottom of my stomach that I had lost the man I loved. I would never see him again. The pain was unbearable.’
The killing was all the more futile because it had revolved around a sordid dispute over a forged £100 giro cheque, which had been stolen from Mr Chhokar’s flat.
Ms Bryce said: ‘In the end, they thought the perfect murder had been carried out. All three did a very good job of confusing both juries years ago and got the result they wanted. For years it looked like it was true that you could commit murder and get away with it.’ She added: ‘I hope when sentencing, the judge takes into account the pain and suffering Ronnie Coulter’s 17 years of silence have caused to all of those who loved Surjit. It would be justice after all.’
‘I held him and kept willing him to live’