The Vancouver Sun, KIM BOLAN

METRO VANCOUVER — Sukhwinder Kaur Johal was just weeks away from leaving her new husband and moving her two teenaged sons into a Surrey basement suite.

Now her boys are dead and she is fighting for her life after Mahendra Singh Johal allegedly tried to kill all three on a sunny Father’s Day morning.

Mahendra Johal, 66, appeared in Surrey provincial court Monday charged with the murders of Ranjit and Amarjit Gill and the attempted murder of their mother.

Johal looked stunned and emotionless as he stood in the prisoner’s dock for about five minutes before being told he would be held in custody until his next appearance Friday.

Prosecutor Marnie Westbury said Johal is facing two counts of second-degree murder and a single count of attempted murder in the near massacre of the trio who had recently arrived from India.

Sukhwinder, 35, remained in hospital in stable condition “but not out of the woods” from the injuries she sustained in the attack about 11 a.m. Sunday, Cpl. Dale Carr said.

Carr, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, confirmed the victims of the double murder were 17-year-old Amarjit and his 15-year-old brother Ranjit, who was called Raman by his friends.

The widow and her teenage sons arrived in B.C. from India about eight months ago to join her much-older husband, according to neighbours and friends.

But things were not going well within the new family unit and Sukhwinder and the teens were planning to move to a nearby basement suite on July 15.

The townhouse Johal shared with his new wife and the teens at 6366 126th Street was still behind yellow police tape Monday more than 24 hours after the murders.

Neighbours tried to go about their business as reporters and passers-by stopped at the scene.

Thirteen-year-old Sukhdeep Sandhu had met both teens at Tamanawis Secondary when they started last fall.

He was in the same class as Ranjit and said they became fast friends, playing hockey and basketball together. He thought the man his friends lived with was their uncle – not their step-dad.

He said Ranjit or Raman, as he called him, confided there was trouble at home.

"He told me every day my uncle is fighting with my mom," Sandhu said. "They were going to move July 15."

He said the mother was working as a cleaner in places like White Rock and Richmond.

“He was happy,” Sandhu said of his friend.

Amarjit’s class-mate Balraj Basra said he also got to know both boys well.

"I am feeling sad. I am crying. He is like my best friend. He is my brother," he said of Amarjit. “He liked living here. His father died in India in an accident.”

He said Amarjit was a good student and loved gym class.

Carr said police had contacted staff at the high school so they could prepare to deal with grieving students.

“I always make it a point of getting in touch with schools when something like this happens with school-age people because I understand there is a process they need to go through,” Carr said. “Kids will have a sense of grieving. They have made friends. It is important that we get in touch with the school. It is part of our protocol.

He said investigators were trying to determine where the victims’ next-of-kin live.

“Another one of our challenges is locating and notifying next of kin,” Carr said. “We may have to call overseas.”

Carr said a 911 call came from the townhouse Sunday, but he did not know if Johal actually placed the call.

The accused killer was wearing a blue and grey striped sweater when he was led in to court by a sheriff about 1:35 p.m. Monday.

He did not appear to have any supporters or relatives in the courtroom and did not glance at the public gallery before being handed a slip of paper with his next appearance listed on it.

Outside court, his lawyer Craig Sicotte, declined to comment on the case at all. He also said he was not aware of the accused ever using the name Johal, despite the fact police said he did.