The family of a B.C. pastor killed in a fiery vehicle collision at the Peace Arch border crossing six years ago is outraged that charges against the man who crashed into him have been dismissed.
“He killed my husband,” Athens Cheung, the victim’s widow, told Global News. “It’s so hurt to my family.”
Pastor Tom Cheung was killed on May 2, 2019, when Washington state resident Gurbinder Singh crashed into his minivan in a border lineup, causing it to burst into flames.
Singh, 40, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving causing death, but in April, provincial court Judge Daniel Weatherly dismissed the charge ruling that his mental state had been profoundly impaired at the time of the collision.
The court had heard Singh was certified under the Mental Health Act after the collision and had suffered a mental health crisis the day before the crash.
Cheung’s family has yet to see a written copy of the ruling. They say they don’t understand why he was simply allowed to walk away free.
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“At the end, he (the judge) just said so, case dismissed, defence discharged. Just like a few words,” Athens said.
“It’s so crazy to everybody, all of my support, brothers and sisters, they are quite surprised. Done like that? I don’t think so. It’s in Canada, what happened?”
Solomon Cheung, the victim’s son, said he’s worried the dismissal could set a precedent, particularly in the wake of the horrific Lapu Lapu Day attack in Vancouver, where police say a man suspected of killing 11 people by driving a vehicle through a crowd was also suffering from mental health issues.
“I was in no way expecting it to be dismissed, free to go,” Solomon said.
“If he truly had mental health issues, shouldn’t he be admitted to some psychiatric ward? Why is there literally nothing done? It makes no sense at all. I was more angry than anything.”
The deadly collision was captured on high-quality CCTV, and many factors in the case, including the driver’s identity, were not disputed at trial.
The court heard that Singh had begun hearing voices the day before the collision, was treated in hospital with anti-psychotic medication and released.
The agreed facts in the case included that Singh was travelling north at 120 km/h in a 30 km/h zone on Highway 99 in a Porsche Cayenne at the time of the crash.
“Anyone who sees this objectively will see this is a huge injustice and a huge failure of our justice system,” Solomon said.
“It quite literally makes no sense when the judge objectively admitted that yes, it was his car that hit my dad’s car, and he died as a result, but that somehow doesn’t prove his guilt? I don’t understand that part.”
Worse yet, the family said they never received any kind of apology from Singh.
Singh, Athens said, never even looked at her in the courtroom.
“Never, never say one word like sorry,” she said.
The BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirmed that it had decided not to challenge the ruling, telling Global News, “the factors required for initiating such an appeal as outlined in the BCPS policy Appeals by Crown to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court of Canada are not met.”
The prosecution service did not specify how those factors were not met.
The Cheung family, meanwhile, says they are exhausted from the process which has dragged out for years.
“Even the coroner report, we waited two years. The trial, six years. We waited so long,” Athens said.
“It’s not fair to my family.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
