{"id":637337,"date":"2026-04-29T23:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637337\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T23:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:23:09","slug":"jail-sentence-means-child-abductor-may-be-deported","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/637337\/","title":{"rendered":"Jail sentence means child abductor may be deported"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former Brampton, Ont., real estate agent who was found guilty of child abduction in Thessalon<\/a> faces possible deportation once he has served his 18-month sentence.<\/p>\n

Manoj Govindbalunikam, 37, was sentenced earlier this month<\/a> for abducting someone under the age of 14 in an incident on Aug. 15, 2023. <\/p>\n

Sault judge sentences child abductor to 18-months in jail A Sault Ste. Marie judge sentenced Manoj Govindbalunikam to 18 months for luring a child with ice cream and a fidget spinner in Thessalon in 2023. <\/p>\n

He pleaded guilty last May, with his lawyer seeking a conditional discharge to help him avoid possible deportation to India.<\/p>\n

The defence in the case said only a conditional discharge would not affect his immigration status, but that a \u201cterm of imprisonment of six months or more would render Mr. Govindbalunikam inadmissible under the (Immigration and Refugee Protection Act<\/a>) and he could face deportation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bright yellow Camaro<\/p>\n

In the bizarre case, the court heard that Govindbalunikam arrived in Thessalon that day in 2023, driving a bright yellow Chevrolet Camaro. He spoke with the nine-year-old victim at the mouth of the Thessalon River and offered him a fidget spinner and gave the child his business card.<\/p>\n

\"\"Stock photo yellow 2011 Camaro A ‘stock photo’ of a yellow 2011 model Chevrolet Camaro provided by OPP as a reference for the make and model of the vehicle involved in a suspicious incident with a child on Aug. 15\/23. (Supplied) <\/p>\n

He later stopped the victim, who was walking near the local curling club, and offered him a ride home. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Govindblalunikam told the victim to leave his bicycle and fishing gear at the curling club because there was no room for them in the vehicle,\u201d the court decision said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Govindbalunikam drove to the Sinton Tavern where he purchased an ice cream for the victim. The pair exited the tavern.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two people at the tavern became concerned because they didn\u2019t know the man who was driving the Camaro and notified the victim\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround the same time, the victim gave Mr. Govindbalunikam his address in Thessalon,\u201d the court said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Govindbalunikam drove towards that residence and, when they reached the home, the victim told Mr. Govindbalunikam to stop the vehicle. Mr. Govindbalunikam slowed down but did not stop. He continued past the residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

A short time later, the father spotted the Camaro and saw his son sitting in the front seat. He reached inside the driver\u2019s side, at which point Govindbalunikam gave him his business card and told him he was a Realtor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe father told Mr. Govindbalunikam to leave the community and told his son to exit the Camaro,\u201d the court said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe son exited and the father and son went to their residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Claimed it was a misunderstanding<\/p>\n

Ontario Provincial Police tracked him down the next day in Sault Ste. Marie, at which point he again said he was a realtor and that the \u201csituation was a misunderstanding with the boy\u2019s father.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was arrested Aug. 16 and police found on his cellphone photos of the victim eating ice cream in the Camaro, and a picture of the victim and Govindbalunikam by the Thessalon River<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The defence claimed that the whole matter was a \u201ccultural misunderstanding.\u201d The pre-sentence report said that Govindbalunikam has a degree in aerospace engineering from India and a master\u2019s degree in the same subject from the University of Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe subject also admitted offering the victim a toy and food as a kind gesture with no intention or desire to do something wrong or harmful,\u201d according to his pre-sentence report. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the subject informed that he has never experienced racial discrimination until his arrest. He claims that conversing with any individual and offering transportation would be considered acceptable in his culture. As such, he claims that this offence is misinterpreted on how authorities have perceived his actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Justice Michael N. Varpio wrote that Govindbalunikam is an intelligent man who has been in Canada long enough to \u201cunderstand Canadian cultural norms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do not accept that this abduction was as a result of a \u2018cultural misunderstanding\u2019 whereby he mistakenly believed that it was acceptable to take a child. He has been a resident of Canada for too long to suggest that this was an innocent error.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 \u00a0Justice Michael N. Varpio<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Govindbalunikam has been here for over a decade and has worked in two demanding fields,\u201d the judge said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do not accept that this abduction was as a result of a \u2018cultural misunderstanding\u2019 whereby he mistakenly believed that it was acceptable to take a child. He has been a resident of Canada for too long to suggest that this was an innocent error.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, Varpio said a jail term was needed to \u201cdenounce and deter Mr. Govindbalunikam\u2019s conduct.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSociety cannot allow adults to simply abscond with young children and drive them around for their own purposes,\u201d the judge said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, my sentence must send a clear message to both Mr. Govinbalunikam and to society at large that those who abduct our most vulnerable citizens (in this case, children) need to be held accountable for their actions. Anything less than a meaningful custodial sentence would not accomplish this aim.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the full decision here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED STORIES:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former Brampton, Ont., real estate agent who was found guilty of child abduction in Thessalon faces possible…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194339],"tags":[238114,55647,238126,92628,238118,51759,238119,49,129156,48,7001,234125,238112,212665,3208,32610,238120,238127,1198,238113,27960,238116,13123,2151,206982,1799,64680,713,238125,5433,238115,166074,238124,238122,905,4535,882,210546,238117,238123,70004,238121,238111,13615,172085,133187,3275,45682],"class_list":["post-637337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brampton","tag-18-month-sentence","tag-55647","tag-abscond","tag-aerospace-engineering","tag-bizarre-case","tag-brampton","tag-business-card","tag-ca","tag-camaro","tag-canada","tag-child","tag-child-abduction","tag-child-abductor","tag-conditional-discharge","tag-court","tag-cultural","tag-curling-club","tag-custodial-sentence","tag-decision","tag-deporation","tag-father","tag-guulty","tag-hearing","tag-home","tag-ice-cream","tag-india","tag-judge","tag-justice","tag-justice-michael-n-varpio","tag-law","tag-manoj-govindbalunikam","tag-masters-degree","tag-misinterpreted","tag-misunderstanding","tag-ontario","tag-parents","tag-photos","tag-pleaded","tag-pled","tag-racial-discrimination","tag-real-estate-agent","tag-sinton-tavern","tag-thessalon","tag-university-of-toronto","tag-victim","tag-vulnerable","tag-world","tag-yellow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}