Kamikar Singh Dhillon believed he “did the right thing” when he murdered his daughter-in-law in a frenzied knife attack.

He told a Brampton court Friday that he had to kill Amandeep Kaur Dhillon, 22, so she wouldn’t disgrace his family.

Dhillon, 48, admitted he had intentionally stabbed her multiple times because he believed she was having an affair with another man and was about to leave her husband.

Wedded in an arranged marriage in India in 2005, the couple had an 18-month old son, who lived in India with relatives while they earned enough money to support their child in Canada.

Justice Bruce Durno imposed an automatic life prison sentence after Dhillon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

The dead woman’s younger sister reacted angrily to Dhillon’s claims about her sibling.

“That man should be put away for life. . . . He ruined our family,” said Pawandeep Benipal, who is married and lives in Brampton.

“He’s lying . . . my sister wasn’t having an affair with anyone. He never let her live happily and is now saying all this about someone who is dead,” she added.

But with Dhillon pleading guilty, Benipal admits the anguish her family has gone through in the past 18 months will somewhat end. “We’ll never forget what happened but we can put this behind us. In a way, it's the end. It's a relief.”

Benipal’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law were present in the court when Dhillon pleaded guilty.

Benipal, who wasn't at the court on Friday because she is pregnant and expected to deliver soon, said she wants to be in court on June 9 when Durno will impose his parole ineligibility of between 10 to 25 years after hearing victim-impact statements.

In the attack on Jan. 1, 2009, Amandeep was stabbed multiple times about her head and upper body, including wounds on her face and a slash across her throat.

“I’m just sorry,” Dhillon told the court through a Punjabi interpreter. “I’m guilty.”

Dhillon admitted he murdered his daughter-in-law because he believed she was about to leave his son for another man the next day, Crown prosecutor Steve Sherriff said in an agreed statement of fact read into court.

“He maintained throughout all of his interviews that her pending separation from her husband would disgrace the family name, which justified his killing her,” Sherriff said.

Peel homicide investigators found no evidence to confirm any alleged sexual relationship between the deceased woman and another man, court heard.

Dhillon also told police that his daughter-in-law had offered to have sex with him but he turned her down, Sherriff said. Police found no evidence to support this assertion either.

“The defendant repeatedly told the police during the same videotaped interview that under these circumstances, he had done the right thing by killing the deceased,” Sherriff said. “The police interviewer strategically suggested that the media and community should be made aware of what he had done and that it was the right thing to do.”

“The defendant agreed. . . . He wanted the police to tell the media that he was justified in killing the deceased (because) of the imminent disgrace to his family name.”

The body of the young woman was found in a washroom in the basement of the family’s Airport Foods convenience store on Airport Rd. in Mississauga. She was fully clothed.

The convicted man was also found inside the store with serious neck wounds.

A few days later, he was arrested and charged with first-degree murder after investigators determined he had stabbed himself three times in a bid to throw police off the trail.

He initially told police at the scene that his daughter-in-law had been kidnapped by five masked men armed with knives and guns during a robbery. He claimed he was also attacked and stabbed.

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Investigators believed he had tried to take his own life and he later admitted to police that he had attempted suicide.

Sherriff said Dhillon admitted hiding the bloody knife inside a cardboard box in the basement and told them where they could find it. Police, however, did not tell him they had already found the murder weapon.

Dhillon initially told police that his daughter-in-law had grabbed the knife and stabbed him once as she fought for her life. He became enraged and stabbed her until he was satisfied she was dead.

But he now admits she never stabbed him and that all his wounds were self-inflicted.

He said he locked the front and rear doors of the store and attacked her while she was getting a mop from the bathroom for cleaning.

His initial plan was to kill her in their home but he feared it would be difficult to avoid being arrested.

Police quickly became suspicious. There was money in the cash register. The deceased woman’s purse also contained a significant amount of cash.

A security camera revealed nobody entered the store during the relevant time. His daughter-in-law’s blood was on his shirt.

Dhillon admitted he acted alone and that his son wasn’t aware of his intentions.

Amandeep’s family in India continues to raise her son, Manmohan Singh, now 3.

At the time of her death, relatives said she had been trying to sponsor her parents and two sisters to come to Canada and was counting the days until being reunited with her child.

Amandeep immigrated to Canada in 2005 after her marriage to Gurvinder.

Dhillon, a landed immigrant, was separated at the time of the killing from his wife, who lived in India.

With files from Raveena Aulakh

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