An Ontario judge has stayed first-degree murder charges against three men in an alleged “execution-style” killing after concluding that their Charter rights were violated at a Milton incarceration facility.
Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan says in his ruling that Joseph Richard Whitlock, Kulvir Singh Bhatia and Karn Veer Sandhu were subjected to “torturous state actions” at the Maplehurst Correctional Complex in December 2023.
The ruling says a crisis intervention team at the facility responded to an inmate’s assault on a correctional officer by conducting strip searches of all inmates in Unit 8, including the three accused men, and placing zip ties on their wrists.
It says the inmates were then seated in another area of the institution, facing the wall and wearing just underwear. Some were left in their boxers for up to two days.
The case is one of many affected by the violations of Maplehurst Correctional Complex inmates’ rights during the strip searches and forceful removals from cells.
Three accused were set to go on trial in 2026
The three men were accused of fatally shooting Arman Dhillon and attempting to kill a woman in Oakville in 2022. They were set to go on trial sometime next year.
Conlan concluded in his ruling that the deployment of the crisis intervention team at Maplehurst in late December 2023 was “undertaken for one reason and one reason only.”
“It was done for vengeance,” the judge wrote. “It was done for retribution.”
The judge acknowledged the seriousness of the charges against the three men and the fact that victims and their families won’t see the case tried in court, but said a stay of proceedings is the right decision in light of the court’s findings.
“The unthinkable has come to pass,” he wrote.
The office of Ontario’s ombudsman had previously launched an investigation into what happened at Maplehurst.
The ombudsman has urged the province to address a “growing crisis” in correctional facilities, pointing to a record number of complaints about facilities, as well as deteriorating conditions.
