A Dunedin man who viciously stabbed his ex-employee to death - attempting to decapitate the victim on his own front lawn - will be locked up for at least 17 and a-half years.
Rajinder, 35, appeared before the High Court at Dunedin this morning where he was jailed for life after being found guilty of the murder of 27-year-old Gurjit Singh following a jury trial at the end of last year.
Outside court, Mr Singh's father Nishan said he felt justice had been served and paid tribute to police, prosecutors and those who had supported the family during their ordeal.
The murder, she said, clearly featured a high level of brutality.
Mr Singh’s parents said the weight of losing their only son in such a callous attack was devastating.
They had sold everything to enable Mr Singh to travel to New Zealand in 2016, study and establish a business for himself.
“[Rajinder] has not just taken one life, he’s destroyed an entire family,” they wrote in a statement.
“Now we have nothing; no land, no savings, no support, nothing to fall back on in our old age. Our last hope died with him.”
The couple described the gruelling trial, which they travelled from India to attend.
“To sit in the courtroom and hear, piece by piece, details about how our son’s life was taken shattered something inside us forever,” they said.
“Even after hearing everything, nothing made sense... The emptiness consumes us.”
“I screamed, I cried uncontrollably and I felt something inside me break in a way that can never be repaired,” she said.
The court at trial heard the defendant had worked for Downer as a fibre-optic cable installer, employing Mr Singh for about a year before the victim started his own business in September 2022.
Though working in the same field, the pair had little contact following the split and witnesses said there appeared no animosity between them.
But late on January 28 in 2024, Rajinder went to the Liberton home with a pair of gloves and a hunting knife he was caught on CCTV buying just hours earlier.
The evidence, painted in blood, showed an initial attack inside the victim’s home which spilled outside.
There was spatter over walls, furniture, the stairs leading to the front door and a handrail beside it.
Mr Singh’s body was found on his front lawn partially decapitated; at least 46 stab wounds were later identified by a pathologist.
During the melee, Rajinder suffered a deep cut to his own hand and forensic scientists found traces of his blood at scene, leading to the road where he had made his escape.
Mr Singh’s blood was discovered in the killer's car.
Most damning, though, were hairs found in the victim’s hand which - to a near scientific certainty - matched Rajinder’s DNA.
But in a recent interview with Probation, Rajinder finally admitted going to the Liberton address.
The trial heard much conjecture about his possible motives for murder, but Justice Dunningham said the likely catalyst was the impending arrival in New Zealand of Mr Singh’s new wife.
In July 2023, the victim had married Kamaljeet Kaur in India and they were just days away from starting their new life together in Dunedin.
The court heard Ms Kaur had previously turned down an arranged marriage to Rajinder.
But the defendant told Probation the reason he had gone to confront Mr Singh was because he believed the younger man had been ignoring him.
He described driving to the house to “clear the air... perhaps have a cup of tea”.
Rajinder, though, admitted taking a knife with him and claimed he held it out in an offer to the victim.
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith called the garbled version of events “totally contradictory”.
“Your Honour should disregard everything the defendant has said about this. It’s just another example of the lies, the many lies, he told the police who investigated the matter,” he said.
Justice Dunningham agreed and described Rajinder’s account as “quite implausible”.
“It’s yet another lie from you to deflect responsibility for your crime,” she told Rajinder.
Counsel Anne Stevens, KC, stressed her client had been in New Zealand for more than a decade, providing for his family, and had no previous convictions.
She also understood he was the only Sikh at the Otago Corrections Facility, which meant his incarceration would result in a degree of “cultural disconnect”.
But the judge said isolation was a common issue for prisoners who had committed serious crimes.
Mr Singh’s parents described their son as their “pride and joy”.
“He was the kind of young man who noticed when someone was struggling and stepped forward before they even asked,” they said.
“He deserved time, he deserved happiness, he deserved life.”
