{"id":796661,"date":"2026-07-13T02:43:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T02:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796661\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T02:43:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T02:43:15","slug":"toowoomba-man-dharminder-singh-faces-court-charged-with-the-murder-of-jana-armstrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/796661\/","title":{"rendered":"Toowoomba man Dharminder Singh faces court charged with the murder of Jana Armstrong"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 48-year-old former partner of Toowoomba woman Jana Armstrong, whose body was discovered on the weekend, has appeared in a Darling Downs court via video link charged with her murder.<\/p>\n

Dharminder Singh had his case mentioned in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court, charged with one count of murder, domestic violence offence.<\/p>\n

The taxi driver has also been charged with one count of arson with police alleging he “wilfully and unlawfully set fire to a motor vehicle, namely a motor car” on July 8 at Toowoomba, according to the court paperwork.<\/p>\n

Mr Singh also faces a third charge of breaching a condition of bail, which is alleged to have occurred between June 27 and July 9. He had entered the bail condition on March 5 to live at an address in the Toowoomba suburb of Harristown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Dharminder Singh appeared in court via video link. (Supplied)<\/p>\n

Mr Singh was arrested early on Sunday morning, roused from his bed by police at an address in West Street, Harristown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The arrest followed the discovery of Ms Armstrong’s body in steep bushland off Esk Hampton Road at Redbank Creek on Saturday night. The area is near the Esk and Ravensbourne National Parks.<\/p>\n

Family and domestic violence support services:1800 Respect National Helpline<\/a>: 1800 737 732DV Connect Women’s Line<\/a>:\u00a01800 811 811MensLine<\/a>: 1300 789 978Kids Helpline<\/a>:\u00a01800 55 1800Lifeline<\/a>\u00a0(24-hour Crisis Line): 13 11 14<\/p>\n

Police said that pig hunters found the body, ending a four-day search for the young mum, who leaves behind a four-month-old baby boy.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Lisa O’Neill directed that a brief of evidence be served by September 14 and adjourned the case to October 1.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen of Ms Armstrong’s family and friends were in the court for the short hearing, including her sister Faith Isaacs, nursing Ms Armstrong’s four-month-old baby son in the front row of the public gallery.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Jana Armstrong’s sister Faith Isaacs outside court with her sister’s child. (ABC News: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

The large group arrived at court, hugging and consoling each other a day after the 30-year-old’s body was found in rugged bushland outside Toowoomba.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Mr Singh’s defence lawyer Ramli Salehkon said “my client asserts his innocence” and “this matter will be defended”.<\/p>\n

Police appeal for assistance<\/p>\n

Investigators have not yet revealed Ms Armstrong’s cause of death and are piecing together the alleged movements of Mr Singh on the evening of Tuesday, July 7, and the early hours of Wednesday, July 8.<\/p>\n

They are calling for public assistance and want anyone with dash cam or CCTV vision between Toowoomba and Esk, along Esk Hampton Road and the New England Highway, in the hours of 10.30pm, July 7, through to 1.30am on July 8, to come forward.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Family and friends of mother Jana Armstrong meet Toowoomba Magistrates Court. . (ABC Southern Qld: Grace Nakamura)<\/p>\n

Police had earlier released several suburbs where Ms Armstrong’s white Hyundai Kona was seen in the evening of July 7.<\/p>\n

Ms Armstrong was last seen alive on the afternoon of July 7. She had met her sister, Faith Isaacs, for brunch that day and then returned to her Newtown home. She was not seen again.<\/p>\n

\"Floral<\/p>\n

Floral tributes have been placed outside Ms Armstrong’s home. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

At 6am on Wednesday, July 8, Ms Armstrong’s car was found abandoned in the middle of the street, 500 metres from her home.<\/p>\n

Her child is now with Ms Isaacs and her family.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Ms Isaacs said no words could describe the heartbreak and devastation of losing her beautiful sister.<\/p>\n

She thanked the public for their kindness and all those who went out searching on the weekend for her sister, and promised her sibling that she would keep her sister’s memory alive for her precious son every single day.<\/p>\n

“I will never let him forget his beautiful mummy.”<\/p>\n

Late yesterday, floral tributes lined the front entrance of Ms Armstrong’s home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 48-year-old former partner of Toowoomba woman Jana Armstrong, whose body was discovered on the weekend, has appeared…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796662,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,48,39043,372276,44,10106],"class_list":["post-796661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-crime","tag-domestic-violence","tag-jana-armstrong","tag-news","tag-toowoomba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}