Murder accused is victim's wife

One of the people accused of stabbing a man to death in his car can now be revealed as his wife.

Name suppression for Gurjinder Singh, 25, and Amandeep Kaur, 31, was lifted when the pair appeared in the High Court at Auckland this morning charged with the murder of 35-year-old Davinder Singh.

Kaur was with him on the night of the incident a couple of weeks ago when police said she and the victim had stopped on a Papatoetoe road to eat takeaways while on their way home from work.

Davinder Singh was then viciously attacked with a sharp implement and died in the driver's seat.

"Mr Singh's got a lot of wounds so there's definitely an indication of a violent struggle that's occurred in and around the vehicle," said Detective Inspector Dave Lynch at the time.

Kaur was too distressed to talk to police the day after her husband's death but not long after being interviewed, police charged her and Gurjinder Singh with murder.

The motive for the attack was not robbery, police confirmed.

Both defendants pleaded not guilty this morning.

Immediately after the incident, Davinder Singh's family said he had no enemies and believed his killing was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Before charges were laid, the Sikh community said they would rally around Kaur to support her but she will remain in custody until at least October when she and her co-accused will be back before the court.

The couple had a 10-year-old son who was living in India, family said.

Davinder Singh and Kaur decided to send him back to be cared for by their extended family as they wanted to focus on their careers.

Davinder Singh came to New Zealand from Rajasthan seven years ago and had been working as an upholsterer at DS Furniture in Mangere.

- By Rob Kidd of APNZ