The former Surrey teacher convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and leaving her burned body along Deltaport Way six years ago has lost his appeal.
Mukhtiar Panghali was last year found guilty of murdering his wife, Manjit Panghali, 31, and then burning her body to conceal evidence of the crime.
He was sentenced to life in prison without the eligibility of parole for 15 years but was given credit for the four years he served prior to the trial.
Panghali appealed his second-degree murder conviction on the grounds that the evidence did not support the verdict. He argued that there was no proof that he intended to kill his wife and a manslaughter conviction would have been more appropriate. He said that burning his wife's body did not indicate that he meant to kill her.
"Mr. Panghali's submission fails to have regard to the totality of the evidence regarding the mechanism of death," said Justice S. David Frankel in his written reasons for denying the appeal. "In this case, not only was pressure applied past the point at which Ms. Panghali became unconscious, but it was applied with considerable force, as evinced by the fractured hyoid bone."
He went on to say that the evidence provided at trial supports the verdict that the death was not accidental.
"The evidence regarding the mechanism of death and the effort to destroy that evidence supports the trial judge's conclusion that Ms. Panghali's death was not accidental, but was caused by the intentional application of force that Mr. Panghali knew was likely to cause death and in respect of which he was reckless about whether death would result."
Fellow Appeal Court Justices Harvey Groberman and David C. Harris agreed with Frankel's reasons.
