SURREY (NEWS1130) – The family of Maple Batalia hopes for closure as two men charged in her killing made their first court appearance this morning.

It was nearly a full house in Courtroom 101 in Surrey. Gary Dhaliwal, Batalia’s ex-boyfriend appeared in court in person, while Gursimar Bedi appeared via videolink. Dhaliwal is charged with first-degree murder. Bedi has been charged with manslaughter, accessory after the fact, and using a firearm.

“The matter got put over for a couple of weeks to assist Mr. Bedi in obtaining a lawyer,” explains David Albert, Dhaliwal’s lawyer.  “There then will be a bail hearing in Supreme Court. The timeframe [is] probably somewhere within the next month.”

“We’re still in shock about it,” says Maple’s sister, Rosie. “It was definitely a long wait, but it was worth the wait.”

“Hopefully, we will get some sort of closure out of this. It’s definitely going to give us a little bit of peace of mind. We won’t get her back, but it definitely will help in the healing process. We can finally start to grieve,” she adds.

The pair will be back in court on December 17th.

Sgt. Jennifer Pound says she has learned a lot from the Batalia family. “What I find amazing is that Sarabjeet, Maple’s mother, is finding it hard for the families of those two men, even through all of this.  She’s struggling with how they might be struggling, which speaks volumes to them, and the people they are, and the family bond they have.”

“At that point, we will move forward with arranging a bail hearing. [Dhaliwal is] going to plead not guilty to these charges, [are my] instructions,” says Albert.

Batalia was shot in the parkade of SFU’s Surrey campus in September of last year. The 19-year-old was a model; she was aspiring to become a doctor.