BURST
An RCMP officer testified Tuesday about driving some of the suspected routes out of Whistler taken by two accused killers after a double murder outside the Sundial hotel in July 2022.
Sgt. Chase Smith told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper and 12 jurors that he tried two separate routes from the boutique hotel at 4340 Sundial Crescent to the 3300-block of Ptarmigan Place, where a burning vehicle linked to the killers was found shortly after Meninder Dhaliwal and Satindera Gill were shot to death on July 24.
Gursimran Sahota and Tanvir Khakh are both facing a first-degree murder charge in the fatal shootings.
The trial has already heard that a stolen light blue Honda CRV was found burning on Ptarmigan Place at about 12:27 p.m. — just nine minutes after the murders.
Two firearms, which prosecutors say were used in the shootings, were later recovered from the Honda.
Chase testified that he recreated the suspected routes on Sept. 9, 2026. He said the first route from the Sundial to the spot where the burning Honda was located took him four minutes and 11 seconds. The second route he drove took five minutes and 45 seconds.
On the day of the murders, witnesses called 911 to report that they saw a black Chrysler leaving the spot on Ptarmigan Place where the Honda was on fire.
Last week, Squamish RCMP Const. Mark McMahon testified that he pulled over a black Chrysler 200 driven by Khakh at 1:03 p.m. The Chrysler was southbound on Highway 99 at Garibaldi Way in Squamish. Sahota was among four other passengers in the vehicle, McMahon said.
Smith also testified that after he left Ptarmigan Place last week, he travelled south on Highway 99 to where the Chrysler had been pulled over. He said he timed the journey on his RCMP issue Samsung phone and it took 38 minutes and 11 seconds.
Aside from a 30-second stretch where he exceeded the speed limit by five to 10 km/h, he drove only at the posted speed limits or below, Smith said.
He agreed with prosecutor Fatemeh Nejatali that his test drives only provided an estimated time for the suspected routes taken by the gunmen.
“I think anyone driving home to work would say that every single drive you take is a little bit different,” Smith said.
Under cross-examination, he agreed with defence lawyer Sarah Pringle, who represents Khakh, that the traffic in September would have been substantially different than that on a busy summer day in July.
He also agreed that there are a number of tourist attractions along Highway 99 from the hiking trails around Whistler to Shannon Falls, Brandywine Falls and the Sea to Sky gondola.
“And you’d agree with me that July, in terms of these tourist attractions, which are mostly outside — hiking, swimming, etc. — it’s quite a busy time for those tourist attractions,” Pringle asked.
Smith agreed.
“And of course, July and September — they’re different in terms of what people are typically spending their days doing, whether that be attending a tourist attraction in July versus I don’t know going back to school in September. Is that right?” Pringle asked.
Again, Smith agreed.
After he completed his testimony, the prosecution concluded its case.
The trial is now adjourned until Thursday.
Bluesky: @kimbolan.bsky.social