Source: Radio New Zealand
Rajinder was found guilty of murder following a High Court jury trial last year. RNZ
The man who murdered Gurjit Singh at his Dunedin home will be sentenced on Wednesday.
Singh, 27, was found dead on the lawn of the property in January in 2024 after being stabbed more than 40 times.
His 35-year-old killer, known only as Rajinder, was found guilty of murder following a High Court jury trial last year.
During the trial, the Crown said Rajinder left DNA evidence at the scene and lied to police, while Rajinder’s defence lawyer called the evidence flawed and said his client had no motive for murdering his former employee.
Prosecutor Richard Smith said the case was not “rocket science”, with Rajinder’s blood and hair found at the scene, his hair in Singh’s hands, and evidence he had searched for a route to Singh’s house on the night of the murder despite telling police that he did not know where he lived.
Defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC said Rajinder had volunteered to be medically examined and consistently denied murdering Singh, saying DNA presented a degree of likelihood, not a guarantee.
A complicated love triangle was aired during the trial involving Singh, his widow Kamaljeet Kaur and Rajinder.
Smith said Kaur rejected Rajinder’s marriage proposal through a broker in 2022 before marrying Singh the following year, and Singh had also rejected Rajinder’s plan to marry his sister.
He said both rejections were motive for murder, with the killing happening shortly before Kaur was due to arrive from India to live with Singh.
Stevens called the argument a Crown “fantasy”, saying Rajinder was not upset to find out she had married Singh and it was instead Kaur’s family who approached his family twice to pursue a marriage.
She said he had been happily married since January 2023.
Smith said Rajinder lied to police about how he cut his hand, initially suggesting he had a chainsaw accident before changing his story to a bike crash, despite a doctor suggesting the wound was inconsistent with a fall onto gravel.
Instead, he suggested Singh had tried to defend himself and Rajinder had cut himself during the pursuit.
Smith said Rajinder bought a “murder kit” including gloves from Bunnings and a knife and neck gaiter from Hunting and Fishing the day before the murder but did not tell police about the purchases.
Stevens said it did not make sense for her client to buy the items using his own bank account, suggesting they were bought for his work as a fibre-optic cable technician.
In summing up, Justice Dunningham said there was no dispute that Singh was violently attacked but the jury needed to decide whether Rajinder was responsible.
‘He was living a good life’
After the jury’s guilty verdict Singh’s father Nishan Singh said he hoped Rajinder would be jailed for life after ruining their lives.
Through a translator, he said he believed Rajinder might have been motivated by his son’s wife rejecting an earlier marriage proposal.
“He has ruined not just our lives but his family life as well. I just hope he someday he confesses why he did it and that will give me more peace in life,” he said.
His son was hardworking and had been supporting his family, he said.
“He was living a good life.”
A deadly night
On the night he died, Gurjit Singh was hanging out with friends at a pizza party in Helensburgh.
His friends told the court he was in good spirits because his wife would soon be arriving from India to live with him.
They last saw him alive when he left about 10:30pm.
The next morning Dhruval Aery checked on Singh after receiving panicked messages from a mutual friend, arriving to find his unresponsive and bloodied body on the lawn.
Police videos from the murder scene showed signs of a violent struggle inside, with a large broken window and blood stains on the ground, hand rail, furniture and wall.
Singh’s widow Kamaljeet Kaur was preparing to move to Dunedin when she was told her husband had been murdered.
Almost 80 police staff were involved in the murder investigation.
Wife pleads guilty day before sentencing
On Tuesday Rajinder’s wife Gurpreet Kaur admitted getting rid of evidence in the murder investigation.
Evidence of her involvement was suppressed during the trial until she pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice at the High Court.
She admitted hiding her husband’s shoes in a bathroom bin after police visited her workplace and told her Rajinder was being charged.
Tiny fragments of glass consistent with a shattered window from the murder scene were found on the shoes.
Gurpreet Kaur will be sentenced in July.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
