WESTLOCK – An Edmonton man with a background in law enforcement in India has been sentenced to a four-month Conditional Sentence Order (CSO) followed by 12 months of probation.
Court heard that Parminder Sing Randhawa struggled with the trauma of his former high-stress career, which led to a drinking habit after he immigrated to Canada. He now works at a bottle depot in Sturgeon County.
“He worked with the police sector in India prior to moving to Canada,” a defence lawyer told Westlock Court of Justice on Jan. 29. “Working with the police department was traumatic. He was dealing with a lot of murders and violence and when he moved to Canada he developed a drinking habit.”
On Sept. 6, 2023, Randhawa was stopped by a sheriff in Westlock. He told the officer that he had forgotten his wallet and wasn’t able to produce a valid driver’s license. Instead, he provided a handwritten note with his name, address and date of birth. The sheriff identified Randhawa and discovered that he was prohibited from driving due to prior convictions.
Crown prosecutor Taylor Noble said that Randhawa had a history of impaired driving offences, including a conviction in 2020 and another in 2009 for refusing to provide a breath sample. A trial had been scheduled for Jan. 29 but Randhawa changed his plea to guilty.
Justice R. C. Shaigec accepted the joint submission from the Crown and defence, sentencing Randhawa to a four-month CSO and 12 months of probation. A CSO allows an offender to serve their jail sentence in the community under strict conditions.
“Four months is a jail sentence but you are allowed to serve it in the community,” said Shaigec. “If you breach your conditional sentence order that sentence stops and you are brought before the court and the judge is asked whether the rest of the sentence should be served in jail.”
For the first two months Randhawa is under 24-hour house arrest and only allowed to leave his home with the prior approval of his probation officer. The last two months he will be on a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m.
