By Kevin Diakiw Surrey Leader

Manjit Panghali was viciously assaulted before she was strangled to death, a B.C. Supreme Court heard this week.

Panghali, 30, was four months pregnant when her badly burned corpse was found beside the Deltaport Way truck route in South Delta in October 2006.

Five months later, her husband Mukhtiar, 38, was arrested for second-degree murder.

The B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster heard testimony this week from pathologist Dr. Charles Lee, who said she was strangled by her attacker. She had also sustained blunt force injuries to her pelvic area, perhaps by a punch or a kick, he said.

Lee said Manjit was set on fire after her death.

Throughout the forensic evidence about the gruesome murder of his wife, Mukhtiar Panghali showed no emotion.