Gurpreet Singh Mand – Justice Neena Sharma

Gurpreet Singh Mand was nailed at the U.S.- Canada border with 13 bricks of 80% pure heroin on August 18, 2017. He finally went to trial in 2021. He was found not guilty on two drug charges by Justice Neena Sharma, who determined that his version of events was ‘plausible.’ Sharma pointed to the lack of forensic evidence, such as fingerprints, tying Mand to the drugs. Mand maintained that someone must have placed the drugs in the trunk while he helped fix another trucker’s rig at a rest stop. Here

Mand testified that he made a trip across the border to help a friend who had broken down. He was driving a courtesy car supplied by an auto body repair shop in Surrey, which was repairing his wife’s car.

Canada Border Services officers discovered the heroin inside a suitcase in the Hyundai’s trunk. Mand maintained that he had no clue he was transporting drugs, which had a wholesale value of about $800k. Street value was pegged at $4.5m

Gurpreet Singh Mand had been a trucker for about 10 years when arrested. According to Mand he was friends with another driver, Pirthi Sidhu. Mand said he learned that Sidhu was having problems with his truck near the Canadian border while returning from a run to California. He agreed to drive across the border to help. Mand testified he met Sidhu at a rest area and helped him replace a radiator hose. Mand said that he probably left his car unlocked during the repair and that there were multiple people at the rest stop. A border officer testified that he asked Mand about the suitcase in the trunk, and that he said it contained his wife’s clothes.

Justice Neena Sharma lent more credibility to Mand’s account of his interactions at the border and far less to border officers. She said a soundless video of the encounter contradicted officers’ observation that Mand was nervous and fidgety. Despite multiple glaring issues, Sharma concluded that there were other explanations for the compelling evidence, apart from Mand knowing about the heroin.

While giving Gurpreet Mand a complete pass, the judge thought ‘it plausible’ that the uncharged Pirthi Sidhu, or someone working under his direction, put the suitcase into Mand’s car.

Comments made at the time sum it up. “Absolutely ridiculous and depressing. This judge is completely gullible and incompetent and should be removed. Mand was caught red handed …”

In October 2019, Justice Neena Sharma dismissed a College of Midwives of B.C. application and struck down as unconstitutional provisions of the Health Professions Act. That bizzarre conclusion was reversed by the B.C. Court of Appeal.