{"id":166750,"date":"2025-12-03T22:32:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:32:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/166750\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T22:32:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:32:07","slug":"dunedin-pine-hill-murder-jury-finds-rajinder-guilty-of-killing-gurjit-singh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/166750\/","title":{"rendered":"Dunedin Pine Hill murder: Jury finds Rajinder guilty of killing Gurjit Singh"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GurjitGurjit Singh at his home in Pine Hill. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

The Crown alleged the killing was a targeted, premeditated attack fuelled by personal resentment and rejection.<\/p>\n

The defence, however, claimed the Crown\u2019s evidence was entirely circumstantial.<\/p>\n

Crown prosecutor Richard Smith told the jury the attack was deliberate and not a burglary or theft gone wrong. <\/p>\n

He described a violent struggle that began inside Singh\u2019s home and moved through the lounge and sunroom before continuing on to an outdoor decking area. <\/p>\n

Smith said Singh had returned from a pizza party with friends shortly before the confrontation and was attacked in a calculated and persistent manner. <\/p>\n

\"GurjitGurjit Singh’s body was found outside his home with 46 stab or slash wounds. Photo \/ Ben Tomsett<\/p>\n

He told the jury that Rajinder had previously been rejected by a woman whom Singh later married, and had also had a marriage proposal to Singh\u2019s sister turned down.<\/p>\n

Police evidence, Smith said, showed Rajinder purchased gloves and a knife before the killing and sustained injuries inconsistent with his explanations.<\/p>\n

Blood from both Rajinder and Singh was found in Rajinder\u2019s vehicle, supporting the Crown\u2019s theory of his movements after the attack.<\/p>\n

Defence counsel Anne Stevens KC told the jury the Crown\u2019s case was entirely circumstantial. <\/p>\n

She noted there was no confession, no witness to the murder, and no proven motive. <\/p>\n

\"TheThe jury trial took place at the Dunedin High Court. Photo \/ George Heard<\/p>\n

Stevens argued the knife and gloves could have innocent explanations and said alternative possibilities existed, including that someone else committed the murder.<\/p>\n

She suggested the Crown had pieced together multiple threads of evidence to form a narrative that did not necessarily prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.<\/p>\n

Rajinder was remanded in custody until sentencing.<\/p>\n

Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gurjit Singh at his home in Pine Hill. Photo \/ Supplied The Crown alleged the killing was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[108766,1349,6788,11424,1874,3368,108765,2959,31037,12517,11156,4275,15360,111,43,139,69,1118,48314,108764,22498],"class_list":["post-166750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-35yearold","tag-court","tag-dunedin","tag-finds","tag-found","tag-guilty","tag-gurjit","tag-high","tag-hill","tag-jury","tag-killing","tag-murder","tag-murdering","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-pine","tag-rajinder","tag-singh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}