A Brampton woman facing a second-degree murder charge in the death of her sister-in-law made her first court appearance Saturday.
Mandeep Punia, 35, is accused of murdering her brother's pregnant wife, 27-year-old Poonam Litt, who went missing in 2009.
Saturday's court proceedings are under a publication ban. Litt and Punia's family members rushed out of the Brampton courthouse afterward, declining to speak to reporters.
"If (police) had sufficient evidence to charge her back in the day they would have, so something must have broken the case and that's what we're interested in," Punia's lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, told CTV Toronto outside court.
Litt's remains were recently found in Caledon, Ont. after a three-year search for the woman.
Litt vanished in 2009 and police were treating her disappearance as suspicious.
Her father-in-law, Kulwant Litt, has been charged with accessory to murder after the fact. He made his first court appearance Friday.
Litt, her husband Manjinder Litt and their young daughter shared a home with Manjinder's parents and extended family. Manjinder was in India when his wife went missing.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Ashley Rowe
