Mother to Face Trial in Alleged Attempt to Kill 2

A Port Hueneme woman accused of trying to drown her two children in Channel Islands Harbor attempted to plead guilty Monday to charges of child endangerment, but prosecutors refused to accept the plea.

Deputy Public Defender Cynthia Ellington accused prosecutors of backing out of a plea agreement negotiated several weeks ago and forcing a trial on attempted murder charges.

Ellington called it a vindictive prosecution.

She urged Ventura County Superior Court Judge Ken Riley to enforce the settlement agreement and allow her client, 42-year-old Narinder Virk, to plead guilty to two lesser counts of child endangerment.

“We are extremely frustrated by this turn of events,” Ellington said. “We do not want to go forward with a jury trial, we want to go forward with the settlement agreement.”

But Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Simon, who was assigned to the case a week ago, told Riley there was never a formal plea agreement. Simon said a prosecutor previously assigned to the case had rejected a plea bargain proposed by the defense, and that since then he had decided to proceed to trial on the attempted murder charges.

Riley told Ellington he could not force the district attorney to accept the plea agreement. He denied the defense request to allow Virk to plead guilty to the lesser charges, which would have made her eligible for probation. The attempted murder charges carry a possible life prison sentence.

“They’ve withdrawn from their previously stated position, but they have a right to do that,” Riley said. He set the case for trial on June 17.

Virk, an Indian immigrant, listened to the proceedings with the assistance of a Punjabi interpreter. She renewed her earlier plea of not guilty by reason of insanity and denied charges that she intentionally tried to kill her children.

Virk was arrested in January 2000 after an Oxnard resident pulled the fully clothed woman, her 6-year-old daughter and 9-year-old son out of the water near a boat dock.

Prosecutors contend Virk tried to kill the children by pushing them into the harbor and holding them underwater.

But Virk’s lawyer has said her client suffered a breakdown after her abusive husband boarded a plane for India with plans to divorce her, and should not be facing such severe charges.

The case has galvanized members of Southern California’s Sikh community, who contend Virk was a battered wife unable to seek help because of language and cultural barriers.

Supporters say Virk felt helpless and suicidal after her husband left.

Virk’s trial is expected to last about three weeks. Meanwhile, she remains free in lieu of $500,000 bail.