Found NCR but he still physically committed the crime

A ruling by the Ontario Superior Court gives some hope that some sanity still exists in the Canadian judicial system. Ved Dhingra stabbed his estranged wife to death and then attempted to claim her life insurance benefits but won’t receive any payout a Ontario Superior Court judge has ruled.

In June 2006, Kamlesh Dhingra was found dead in her Richmond Hill, Ontario home. She was struck on her head with a statue and stabbed multiple times in the neck and body. While a court found that Ved Dhingra killed his wife Kamlesh Dhingra, it found him not criminally responsible for the murder because he suffered from schizoaffective disorder.

Note: There are numerous debates within the mental health field whether a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder even exists!

Because the court decided he wasn’t criminally responsible, Scotia Life Insurance Company said it would pay the $50,000 policy benefit to Dhingra, who was the sole beneficiary.

The Ontario Superior Court ruled that Dhingra, who was sent to the Whitby Mental Health Centre following his trial, isn’t entitled to the insurance benefits. “(Dhingra) committed second degree murder of his ex-wife Kamlesh. Even though he was not found criminally responsible, he still physically committed the crime,” Justice Andra Pollak wrote in her ruling.

“There is no judicial support in Canada for (Dhingra’s) submission,” she continued.

Her ruling sided with Dhingra’s son Paul, who had argued that the insurance benefits should go to his mother’s estate and not to his father. Lina Dhingra, Paul’s sister has said her father would appeal Pollak’s ruling.