Hari Pal will serve at least 23 years for murder of estranged wife and her friend

A man who killed his estranged wife and her friend in front of his nine-year-old stepdaughter was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 23 years.

He was found guilty Friday on two counts of second-degree murder and one charge ofaggravated assault. With time served, he can apply for parole in 20 years.

The judge called the stabbing deaths of the two women Sanjula Devi and FahmidaVelji-Visram a "domestic dispute gone horribly, horribly wrong."

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The murders took place in a southeast Calgary home on May 4, 2014, when Devishowed up to collect her belongings after moving out of the suite she shared with Hari Pal.

Once there, Pal went on a murderous rampage, stabbing Devi and Velji-Visram multiple times in front of the nine-year-old girl. The landlord's daughter, Shalni Gill, was also stabbed as she tried to intervene in the attack, leading to the assault charge.

The judge said the nine-year-old girl, who is now 13, witnessed "a cold blooded and savage attack on her mother" that was "horribly cruel."

Velji-Visram's motherwrote out a statement for the media after the sentence was handed down.

"My daughter Fahmida will be sorely missed. We are glad with the sentencing and that justice is served.Now we can move past this and finally start living our lives," she wrote.

"All I can ask from everyone today is to please hug your children because you'll never know when that hug will be your last."

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