Ont. man accused of attempted murder; kidnapping charges granted $250,000 bail

Surjit Singh Bains, accused along with four others from the GTA with kidnapping charges and attempted murder, has been granted $250,000 bail.

A Woodbridge, Ont. man, accused along with four others from the Greater Toronto Area with kidnapping charges and attempted murder, has been granted bail.

Justice Susan Healey granted Surjit Singh Bains, 63, his release on a $250,000 bail pledge by his sons and wife, who left the Barrie courthouse Monday nearly three months after Bains was taken to jail.

Bains was first denied bail in October due to an insufficient plan of release. The defence had argued the justice of the peace made a legal error in that hearing, but Justice Healey ruled there was no error in law and Bains could be bailed out with a strict plan.

“It was on the material change. She was very impressed with the sureties, the plan, the strictness of the plan,” said defence lawyer Andrew Menchynski. “It was the right decision.”

As part of the terms of his release, Bains will be under strict house arrest conditions including GPS ankle monitoring. Bains is also banned from having electronic devices on him unless under the supervision of his sureties.

Bains is accused along with Baltej Sandhu, 30; Manraj Mann, 31; Dwayne Pennant, 41, all of Brampton; and Gergy Anthony Gorburn, 51, of Toronto. Police allege the men kidnapped, bound, and tortured a Mississauga man who was found brutally beaten inside an abandoned downtown Orillia gas station in late September.

Bains, Sandhu, and Pennant have been granted bail following special hearings while Mann and Gorburn were ordered detained and remain behind bars at Central North Correctional Centre in Penetanguishene. They return to court later this month by video from jail.

The accused are charged with attempted murder and kidnapping, uttering death threats, weapons charges, forcible confinement and breaking and entering to commit an indictable offence.

Provincial police revealed, at the time of their arrests, investigators responded to reports of a suspicious vehicle and individuals wearing masks near an abandoned building at the corner of Colborne and Peter streets.

A publication ban prevents any evidence heard in court from being revealed.

Bains will join Sandhu and Pennant in a virtual Orillia courtroom early in the new year. The allegations against the accused have not been tested in court.