THE cancer-stricken father of murdered waiter Surjit Singh Chhokar spoke of his hopes of living to see justice for his son - in an interview days before he died.
Darshan Singh Chhokar, who passed away last Sunday after a long battle with illness, spoke from his death bed of his heartache over his son's murder.
He told a Sunday newspaper said: "I have just one wish, that the people responsible to Surjit's death must face justice."
Father-of-two Surjit was stabbed to death outside his home in Overtown, North Lanarkshire, 17 years ago on November 4 1998.
No one has ever been convicted in relation to his death.
His 76-year-old father Darshan - who was fighting cancer for the fourth time - said he prayed every day that he would live to see his son's killers punished.
He wept as he said: "I have been hoping and praying for that day.
"I will hope for that with my final breath. Those who did this have walked the streets for all these years. They have been free to do so.
"But my family are destroyed. Everything we had planned, all the dreams we had, everything we hoped for was ruined."
Speaking from his family home near Glasgow, he added: "For 17 years, God has given me the strength to carry on."
Darshan said he still feels he son's presence.
He added: "I still hear his voice - he comes into my heart."
For years Darshan travelled the country fighting for justice for his dead son.
But he became housebound after being diagnosed with cancer - which started in his lungs then spread to his bowel.
His wife, and Surjit's mother, Gurdev Kaur, 71, said her husband's determination to see justice for his son spurred him on to beat cancer three times before his final diagnosis.
She also told the Sunday newspaper: "Surjit was my son and the pain is never going to go away.
"Whether it is night or day, that pain is constant."
Darshan died days after the interview, on October 25, surrounded by his family.
His funeral is expected to be held tomorrow - just one day short of the 17th anniversary of his son's death.
Ronnie Coulter, 47, from Wishaw, Lanarkshire, is expected to stand trial accused of Surjit's murder in February.
Prosecutors claim that he was acting with two other men - Andrew Coulter and David Montgomery - at the time of the attack.
The murder charge alleges that Surjit was punched and hit with a wooden baton before being struck with a knife by Ronnie Coulter.
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