US man gets 13-year jail for attacking 82-year-old Sikh

Washington, September 16

An American man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison on charges of hate crime for brutally hitting an 82-year-old Sikh with a steel rod outside a gurdwara in California two years ago.

Piara Singh had just finished preparing meals for the langar (community kitchen) when Gilbert Garcia spotted him outside the Nanaksar Gurdwara in Fresno city on May 5, 2013. Garcia screamed something about the Taliban and Muslims as he attacked Singh. Local prosecutors treated the incident as a hate crime. Singh was hospitalised for more than a week with head wounds, broken ribs and lung lacerations. Garcia was arrested half an hour after the attack and has been under custody ever since.

“It stands to reason from common sense that anyone who would engage in this type of horrific behaviour would be someone who is classified as not necessarily being normal,” said Fresno County Superior Court Judge Alvin Harrell III.

“The bottom line is justice was meted out today and in our community, if you’re going to commit a hate crime, you’re going to go to prison,” said prosecutor Tim Donovan.

“Justice has been served. Not only do the victim and his family have closure, but so does the entire Sikh community because there was an acknowledgement that a hate crime occurred,” said Ike Grewal, a local Sikh community activist. — Agencies