Police crime scene tapeThe Canadian Press
Police have charged two men with murder after three women died in two separate and unrelated incidents of domestic violence that occurred hours apart in the Peel region, west of Toronto.
On Friday around 10:45 p.m. local time, police said they were called to a home on Starhill Crescent in the Sandalwood Parkway and Dixie Road area of Brampton. Two women – 32-year-old Baljit Thandi and her mother, 60-year-old Avtar Kaur – were both fatally stabbed, police said.
Police said Dalwinder Singh, 29, the husband of Ms. Thandi, was arrested at the house. He was charged with two counts of second-degree murder.
Then, around 1 a.m. local time on Saturday, police officers were called to a home on Marmac Crescent, around Winston Churchill Boulevard and Burnhamthorpe Road West, in Mississauga, Peel Regional Police Constable Rachel Gibbs said.
Constable Gibbs said police found a 61-year-old woman dead inside "with obvious signs of trauma from stabbing." There were two teenage children at the house, both of whom were taken to the hospital. One of the teenagers suffered serious, but not life-threatening injuries, Constable Gibbs said. The other teen was not injured.
A 61-year-old man, who was the husband of the victim, was arrested at the scene. Police charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Ontario's police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), was also called in to investigate the Mississauga case. The SIU is an arms-length agency that investigates incidents involving police where there has been a death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault.
"There was something that occurred during the arrest that caused them to invoke their mandate," Constable Gibbs said of the SIU being called in.
In a news release, the SIU said there was an "interaction" between police officers and the 61-year-old Mississauga man.
"The man was taken into custody and subsequently transported to hospital where he was diagnosed with a serious injury," the SIU stated in its release.
The SIU said it has assigned two investigators and one forensic investigator to the incident.
Constable Gibbs said the three deaths marked the first three homicides of the year in Peel region.
"It was a very tragic night in the region," Constable Gibbs said in a telephone interview. "Very unusual to have homicides like this happen, such tragic homicides happen, in a three-hour period."
She described the neighbourhoods as quiet suburban areas.
"Mississauga and Brampton are generally safe regions. So these types of violent incidents are all the more shocking," Constable Gibbs said.
Caroline Alphonso