VAN NUYS : 4 Plead Not Guilty in Clerk’s Stabbing

Four men facing potential life prison terms pleaded not guilty Wednesday to attempted murder charges in the stabbing of a West Hills convenience store clerk who had fled his native India to escape sectarian violence there.

Amolak Singh Saini, 27, was attacked in the early morning hours of March 24 at a 7-Eleven store at 22821 Saticoy St. He was stabbed 22 times after five men entered the store.

Two brothers--Jason Garcia, 19, and Carlos Ramon Garcia, 20, both of Simi Valley--and David Michael Delahanty, 18, and Frank Eric Kaatz, 19, both of Chatsworth, also pleaded not guilty to charges of robbery in Van Nuys Municipal Court.

Police said the four men, accompanied by a fifth man who remains at large, entered the store and immediately jumped over a counter to attack Saini.

Although investigators have located one witness who recalled one assailant yelling, “You go back to your own country, you can’t even speak English,” the case is not being treated as a hate crime.

“It’s just a vicious robbery,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Linda Acaldo. “I don’t think it was racially motivated.”

After being pummeled inside the store, Saini was chased into the parking lot where he was beaten, stabbed, and had a 40-ounce beer bottle of beer smashed over his head, investigators said.

Saini had fled India less than a year ago and had received a work permit only a month ago.

Investigators said the robbers made off with two cash registers--one of which was empty--and beer, wine and cigarettes. Acaldo said police recovered a video from the store’s security system which documents part of the attack.

The fifth suspect who remains at large has been identified as Scott Howard Goodman, 22, of Chatsworth.

A May 25 preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled. The Garcia brothers and Delahanty are being held in jail in lieu of $1-million bail. Kaatz, who with Goodman is suspected of being the stabber, is being held on $2-million bail.