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Domestic Homicide

Sylvan Lake man gets six years for manslaughter conviction in wife’s death

Feb 26, 2021 | 5:33 PM

A six-year jail term has been handed to a Sylvan Lake man convicted in the death of his wife in 2019.

Satnam Singh Sandhu, 43, was sentenced in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday.

With credit given for time already spent behind bars, Sandhu now has 1,389 days left to serve.

Justice Anne Kirker also handed Sandhu a 10-year firearms prohibition, to begin after his release from jail in just over three years and nine months from now.

Originally charged with second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Kulvinder Sandhu, Sandhu pled guilty to manslaughter on Tuesday, after his charge was reduced following a preliminary hearing last September.

It was on September 11, 2019 when Sandhu and his wife got into an argument about money.

Court heard previously that Kulvinder had grabbed Satnam by the neck as she was angry he had recently spent $1,000 on a visiting friend.

The argument then escalated to the point where they both had their hands wrapped around the other’s necks and were choking each other.

During the struggle, Sandhu pushed his wife to the floor, but she hit her head on a heater while falling and was found unresponsive after hitting the ground.

Sandhu called 911 following the incident and tried to resuscitate his wife before paramedics arrived. She was taken to Red Deer Regional Hospital, however, where she was ultimately put on life support.

On Sept. 13, 2019, doctors determined Kulvinder was brain dead, so took her off life support. She died the next day.

According to the autopsy report, Kulvinder’s official cause of death was from injuries consistent with strangulation, causing hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy brain death – brain damage caused when the brain doesn’t get enough oxygen.

Sandhu has also been ordered to submit his DNA and to not have contact with his 15-year-old son or his former wife’s family.