Editor’s note: This story contains disturbing and graphic details. Discretion is advised.
The cousin of a young security guard whose life was violently cut short in Kelowna, B.C., is deeply disappointed in the sentence handed down on Wednesday to a man responsible for her death.
Harmandeep Kaur died in February 2022 after a brutal attack on the UBC-Okanagan campus.
“Fifteen years does not reflect the gravity of harm done,” said Amrit Pal Singh. “This falls short of justice.”
Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes sentenced Dante Ognibene-Hebbourn, 24, to 15 years in prison, less time served.
It means Ognibene-Hebbourn, who’s been in custody since April 2022, is expected to spend an additional 10 years behind bars.
“Fifteen years is nothing,” Singh told reporters outside of the courtroom. “Ten years from now, he’ll be 34 years old. We don’t know what he will do. There could be another Harmandeep.”
Ognibene-Hebbourn was initially charged with second-degree murder but agreed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter, meaning a trial was not necessary.
Kaur was on shift in the early morning of Feb. 26, 2022, when the attack occurred, most of which was captured on the university’s surveillance cameras.
Ognibene-Hebbourn also worked on campus as a janitor and the two were described as friendly to one another.
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But on that morning, Ognibene-Hebbourn, who has a lengthy history of mental health troubles, was in a “profound state of psychosis,” according to psychiatric reports.
Security footage showed Ognibene-Hebbourn, who was only wearing pants and shoes, following Kaur with the assault starting a short time after.
The video shows Kaur being beaten three separate times in a span of about 15 minutes.
He kicked and punched her and slammed her to the ground. The video shows him coming back two more times after the initial attack.
Court heard that Ognibene-Hebbourn stomped on Kaur, who was in the fetal position for much of the time, with his full body weight a total of 21 times.
Ognibene-Hebbourn was detained a short time after under the Mental Health Act and then arrested and charged about a month later.
That’s when he told police that Kaur had seen him masturbating that fateful morning and he feared she would tell others.
He also told police that Kaur had accused him of eating corpses and being a cannibal.
Court also heard that Ognibene-Hebbourn had been admitted to hospital numerous times over the years and that he had stopped taking his anti-psychosis medication in the months leading up to the deadly attack, turning instead to illicit drugs.
The judge called the attack utterly meaningless with no motive other than Ognibene-Hebbourn’s “distorted thoughts.”
Ognibene-Hebbourn did not address Kaur’s family at the sentencing hearing.
Justice Holmes explained he chose not to because he said if it were him, he would not want to hear from the person that caused so much harm.
Kaur immigrated to Canada from India in 2015 and had received her permanent residency just one month prior to the attack.
She was working towards becoming a paramedic at the time of her death.
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