Life sentence after stabbing young waiter
Ronnie Coulter was last week found guilty of murdering Surjit Singh Chhokar in Overtown 18 years ago.
Coulter, 48, was found guilty after a four-week trial of murdering the restaurant worker by stabbing him through the heart in Garrion Street, Overtown, Lanarkshire, on November 4, 1998. He now faces a life sentence for the brutal murder.
After deliberating for two days the jury found him guilty of murder by a majority verdict.
Several members of the Chhokar family sobbed as the guilty verdict was announced. Lawyer Aamer Anwar, who led the campaign for justice, hugged Surjit Chhokar’s mother 73-year-old Gurdev Kaur Chhokar and wiped tears from his eyes. Coulter sat with his head bowed and shook his head slightly.
Judge Lord Matthews told Coulter: “There is only one sentence I can pass of life imprisonment. The only question for me is how long you should serve before being eligible for parole.”
Lord Matthews said he was calling for background reports given the relatively minor nature of Coulter’s previous convictions and his mental health issues.
He deferred sentence until October 31. Throughout the trial at the High Court in Glasgow Coulter claimed that he was innocent and blamed his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery.
His conviction is only the second time in Scottish legal history that an accused has been tried twice for the same crime. Coulter’s first trial was in 1999 when he was cleared of murder.
He then gave evidence at the trial of his nephew Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery who were cleared of murdering Chhokar in 2000.
In his evidence he claimed that he had got a lift that night from his nephew and David Montgomery from Gowkthrapple where they all stayed to Overtown because he was going to visit his mother Mary.
Trial judge Lord Bonomy ruled that Ronnie Coulter’s evidence was in contempt of court and jailed him for two years.
Lawyer Aamer Anwar who began campaigning for the Chhokar family