Of all the horrific things about her sister's murder, one that burned into the memory of Roshil Singh was the view of the body and the touch of death.
"I felt her cold hand in mine," Roshil Singh said in Sacramento Superior Court at Friday's sentencing of the man who murdered her sister, "and I knew her hand would never be warm again."
The killer, Demetrius Shaffer, 33, said he didn't murder Rajneet Kor Singh, 37, in the pre-dawn hours of New Year's Day 2011 when she was strangled and sexually assaulted.
Judge Maryanne G. Gilliard, in effect, told Shaffer to save it for the prison yard. She said he had a good lawyer and received a fair trial and a just verdict.
She sentenced Shaffer to life in prison with no chance of parole, plus seven 15-to-life terms for another sexual attack of another victim on Thanksgiving Day 2010.
"Mr. Shaffer lived a predatory, perverted life," Gilliard said from the bench. "For that he will spend the rest of his life behind bars."
She said Shaffer had the ability to stop during the Thanksgiving assault and reflect on his actions but he continued with it.
"You should get every minute of every day this court can give you," Gilliard said.
At trial, Deputy District Attorney Thienvu Ho presented three former spouses of Shaffer's who said he sexually assaulted them, too.
"The pain and suffering he has inflicted is unbearable and unspeakable," Ho said.
The body of Rajneet Kor Singh was discovered a block from the Rancho's Club Casino on Folsom Boulevard in Rancho Cordova several hours after she and Shaffer were videotaped leaving.
Roshil Singh said the death of her sister has ruined her sleep. If she gets any, she said, it's filled with nightmares.
"Mr. Shaffer, I hope your children never have the loss of a sibling," Roshil Singh said. "But most of all I hope they do not turn out to be the man you became."
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Call The Bee's Andy Furillo, (916) 321-1141. Follow him on Twitter @andyfurillo.
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