Toronto, Sept. 11 (PTI): A heart-wrenching audio-tape of a Punjabi immigrant shooting dead his two stepsons and nearly beheading his wife on Father’s Day last year was played in a Vancouver court.

“Mommy, mommy,” 15-year-old Ranjit cried for help, before he was shot dead by Mahendra Singh. Ranjit’s 17-year-old brother Amarjit met similar fate and the mother was nearly beheaded by her husband.

The incident happened on June 21, 2009, Father’s day.

The tape was played yesterday at Singh’s sentence hearing in Vancouver.

The tape starts 46 minutes before the murders, when Singh, 68, was laying out grievances against his wife.

“This lady, she gave me such a hard time, a hard time,” Singh said in English as the recording began, the Canadian paper reported.

The 38-year-old widow married Singh in India in 2005. They moved to Canada in 2008, but the marriage soured.

After his remarks in English, Singh was heard making several more comments in Punjabi before walking around the townhouse making preparations. Right before Amarjit was shot in the chest as he slept, Singh is heard cocking his rifle and pulling the trigger.

Next there were blood-curdling screams as Singh entered the second bedroom and killed Ranjit right in front of his mother. Prosecution lawyer Don Wilson said the thuds were the sounds of Singh hitting Sukhwinder on the head with the rifle butt.

She begged him to spare her. After several more smacking noises, it was quiet. Singh was heard saying: “That’s it”.

He faces a life behind bars, with no parole for 20 years.