Father sentenced to life for decapitating his toddler daughter

A Canadian man who pleaded guilty to strangling and then decapitating his 27-month-old daughter was sentenced to life in prison today.

Lakvinder Singh Khalon, 48, will not be eligible for parole for 11 years, said British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Arne Silverman.

The judge called the killing “an incomprehensible tragedy” for Khalon’s wife and two other daughters, aged 13 and 10.

Khalon admitted to second-degree murder in British Columbia Supreme Court last week. His daughter, Rajvinder, was found murdered in the family home in Delta, British Columbia, on January 18, 2008.

“He strangled her with a (cord) of some sort,” the judge said. “He then severed her head completely from her body using a kitchen knife.”

He phoned emergency services after the murder, which he committed while his wife had gone out briefly.

Silverman refuted media reports that Khalon had been upset that he had no sons.

Psychiatrist Dr Shabehram Lohrasbe told the court Khalon was severely depressed before the incident. He was on anti-depressants and anti-psychotic medication. Khalon had seen his psychiatrist only two days before the incident, Lohrasbe said.

The judge said Khalon, who sat with his head bowed in court, had expressed remorse for the killing. Lohrasbe told the court Khalon’s behaviour in an interview before the sentencing was “distinctly odd”.

He said Khalon slapped himself and tore at his nipples. The psychiatrist also said Khalon howled his daughter’s name and patted the air as if touching her on the head.

“His wife reported he would complain he had bugs in his head that would not stop,” Lohrasbe said in court. “That could be a psychotic symptom.”

The psychiatrist said that severe depression can sometimes lead to catastrophic thoughts of killing one’s family or oneself.