Victorian SC jails Indian origin man for beating wife to death with stake

MELBOURNE - A 44 -year-old Indian origin man, Sukhmander Singh, was sentenced to 17 years jail for beating his wife to death with a wooden stake on the Valley Lake Boulevard at Niddrie on May 7, 2009.

According to The Age, Singh pleaded guilty to the murder of his wife and will serve a minimum of 13 years and six months’ jail term.

Victorian Supreme Court Justice Terry Forrest said that Singh’s daughter Sarabjit Kaur told the court that her mother was beaten almost every day in India but for cultural reasons it was never reported to the police.

Earlier, Singh accused his wife, Mohinder Kaur, of having an extra-marital affair. Justice Terry Forrest, however, concluded that this was a false allegation.

The paper also stated that a forensic pathologist described multiple skull and facial bone fractures among other injuries and estimated a minimum of three or four blows to the scalp-forehead region with further blows to the mid-facial and neck area.

“I accept that your final actions towards your wife were unplanned… but it cannot be overlooked that this murder was the culmination of a long history of brutality towards your wife,” Justice Forrest said.

“You suffer from a depressive illness and mild alcohol-related dementia [and] you are prone to confabulation, I accept the next phase of your life will be considerably more difficult for you than other prisoners and I have moderated the sentence that I will impose to reflect this,” he added. (ANI)