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Rama Guaravarapu

One way or another, Tejwant Danjou will be convicted of killing his former partner.

Defence and Crown made closing arguments in the second-degree murder trial of 71-year old Danjou Friday morning, and while both sides agree on the bulk of the actual facts of the case, the crux of the issue comes down to intent.

On the evening of July 22, 2018, Danjou repeatedly struck Rama Guaravarapu with a wine bottle inside the couple’s hotel room at the West Kelowna Best Western. Guaravarapu, who had travelled from her home in Surrey to the Okanagan with Danjou for a weekend of wine tasting, died on the floor of the room, in a pool of blood and red wine.

From the beginning of the trial, Danjou admitted he killed Guaravarapu, going so far as to plead guilty on the first day of trial. The very next day, Danjou took back his guilty plea, after refusing to admit he had intended to kill her.

During closing submissions Friday, defence counsel Donna Turko said Danjou had been suffering from a delusional disorder of the jealous type for many months leading up to the killing. Danjou had been convinced Guaravarapu had been cheating on him and the couple had fought many times about the issue.

The court heard Danjou had previously been physically violent towards Guaravarapu. She had told her friends that Danjou had threatened to kill her in the past and Guaravarapu had expressed interest in leaving him at least six times between May and July 22.

Forensic psychiatrist Todd Tomita diagnosed Danjou with the delusional disorder following the killing, and Turko argued that Danjou was unable to form the intent to kill because of this mental disorder.

By definition, murder is homicide where the accused has the intent to kill, or knew the injuries inflicted are likely to cause death. Homicide without intent to kill is manslaughter, which Turko argued her client should be convicted of, rather than murder.

Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for between 10 and 25 years, while manslaughter carries no mandatory minimum sentence.

Turko did not argue the mental disorder impacted Danjou so much that he should be found not criminally responsible by way of a mental disorder.

The Crown noted Danjou inflicted 52 separate injuries on Guaravarapu, the bulk of which were to her head and neck, during a “vicious and somewhat prolonged attack.” One of the cuts came within five millimetres of her jugular vein, but the cause of her death was multiple blunt force trauma injuries.

Following his assault on Guaravarapu, Danjou was found by police inside a nearby dumpster, underneath a layer of cardboard. While the Crown argued this “after-the-fact” conduct shows he was “clearly trying to hide” following the killing, Turko had a different take on the events.

“An animal seeks refuge, animals wander around. Raccoons go into dumpsters for refuge,” Turko said. “If you're not sane and sober, none of your action has meaning, you're just on autopilot like an animal in a sense ... There's nothing thinking, there's no thought. It's just almost an animal instinct reaction.”

The trial, which began in February has been delayed several times due to the COVID-19 pandemic and counsel availability issues. Danjou has remained in custody since his arrest. 

With the wrapping up of closing submissions Friday, Justice Alison Beames will now deliberate on the case. Judgement, followed by sentencing, is scheduled for Aug. 13.