Californian Sikh pleads guilty to sword attack during Yuba City parade

San Francisco, Oct 10

A 44-year-old Sikh man has pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a sword attack, which left a man with 23 stitches to his face, during an annual Sikh Parade in California's Yuba City in 2018.

Parmvir Singh Gosal, a resident of Tracy city, admitted last week to attempted murder and mayhem for inflicting injuries at the November 4, 2018 parade known as Nagar Kirtan, according to the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office.

The victim got 23 stitches to his face and had an orbital fracture below his left eye after Gosal and three other suspects attacked him with swords and brass knuckles, The Sacramento Bee newspaper reported.

In addition, Gosal also pled guilty to second-degree robbery, assault producing bodily injury and dissuading a key witness to the sword incident.

Gosal and a group of others had beaten the witness in California's Lathrop city on June 8, 2019, leaving him unconscious. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 29, and faces up to 17 years and eight months in prison, the Attorney's Office said.

Manpreet Singh, a second man arrested in connection with the Yuba City incident, pleaded no contest to attempted murder in August and was sentenced to eight years in prison, The Bee reported.

The annual Sikh Parade festival was introduced in the Yuba City in the 1980s by well-known Punjabi-American peach farmer Didar Singh Bains, also known as "Peach King". The event is held on the first Sunday of November and attracts nearly 100,000 South Asians each year from across the US, Canada, England, and India.