Man charged with sex offences may not be facing a trial

By Delon Shurtz on June 15, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

The trial for a Lethbridge man charged with sex-related offences against a woman has been cancelled, and may be resolved rather than setting a new trial date.
Sohil Bindra was scheduled to begin a five-day trial next week, but during a hearing Monday in Lethbridge provincial court, the trial was vacated and the matter adjourned to June 22.
An agent for Calgary lawyer Alain Hepner said new trial dates may be set on the next court appearance, but the Crown suggested it may seek a global resolution of the charges in lieu of a trial. 
Meanwhile, Bindra is still waiting to be sentenced on several sex-related offences after he was found guilty last month of drugging and sexually assaulting three women between 2018 and 2020.
Bindra denied the allegations and testified during his trial last year that all the women consented to the liaisons. One of the women testified Bindra assaulted her in his vehicle in the spring of 2018. Bindra, 35, was found guilty of sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in relation to the assault against the woman.
Another woman testified Bindra sexually assaulted her after he gave her and a friend a ride home from a bar in February of 2020. He was found guilty of housebreaking and commit sexual assault, sexual assault and administering a noxious substance in relation to that woman. He also faced a charge of sexual assault – in the form of an unwanted kiss – in relation to the woman’s friend to whom he gave a ride home, but Judge Jerry LeGrandeur said the Crown did not prove the absence of consent and he dismissed that charge.
A fourth woman told court during the trial that she was too drunk to drive home to Taber following a work Christmas party in December of 2018, and was sexually assaulted after Bindra allowed her to stay the night at his westside home. Although Bindra said she was coming onto him, she testified she did not consent and told him no. He was found guilty of administering a noxious substance and sexual assault.
Bindra was also found guilty on two drug charges; one for possessing cocaine and the other for possessing the substance he used to drug the women.
Bindra also faces sex-related charges in relation to a sixth woman, and has been waiting to set a trial date on those charges.

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