EDITOR'S NOTE: Official documents from the Parole Board of Canada indicate that Inderjit Dhillon was given a pardon under the Criminal Records Act on Sept. 26, 2022. The pardon recognizes that he has remained free of any convictions since completing his sentence and “was of good conduct and that the conviction should no longer reflect adversely on his character.” A person who is granted a pardon has any record of their conviction erased from police and court records.
A man who was kicked out of an Abbotsford pub in 2013 and then immediately called police to falsely report a shooting there has lost his bid for an appeal of his sentence.
Inderjit Dhillon pleaded guilty in 2014 to public mischief. Crown and defence counsel both recommended he receive one year of probation and a conditional discharge, meaning he would be cleared of a criminal record if he followed the conditions of his probation.
Instead, the judge imposed one year of probation and a suspended sentence, meaning even if he followed his conditions, he would have a criminal record.
Dhillon argued that the judge erred in his ruling.
The charge against him stemmed from an incident on March 17, 2013, when Dhillon was drinking at an Abbotsford pub and was asked to leave because of his conduct towards one of the staff, according to court documents.
Dhillon felt he had been treated unfairly and decided to call emergency services, claiming there had been a shooting at the location.
Numerous members of the Abbotsford Police Department arrived on the scene and soon determined that the call had been a hoax.
Dhillion was located on the street not far from the pub, and was arrested.
At his sentencing hearing in November 2014, Dhillon’s lawyer informed the court that his client had completed a 16-week addictions program, was aware of the “waste of police resources that his actions caused” and was remorseful.
But the judge said he was imposing a stricter punishment than recommended by both lawyers, in part because Dhillon had a prior conviction for impaired driving in 2009.
“The fact of the matter is that this offence relates to alcohol consumption, as well as his conviction from 2009, and in the blur of his alcoholic state, he decided to take this step to draw valuable resources away from the community to attend to his own anger at the pub,” the judge said in sentencing Dhillon.
The judge reviewing whether Dhillon should get an appeal agreed with the earlier decision, saying that “the alternative sentence that (the sentencing judge) imposed was a fit sentence.”
The decision to deny the appeal was made Thursday, March 31 in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack.