R v Akash - [2016] NZHC 2348

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

CRI-2016-057-000606 [2016] NZHC 2348

THE QUEEN

v

AKASH

Hearing: 4 October 2016

Appearances:

G Kayes and P Winiata for Crown
M S Gibson for Prisoner

Judgment:

4 October 2016

SENTENCING REMARKS OF PALMER J

Solicitors/Counsel:
Kayes Fletcher Walker Ltd, Manukau
M S Gibson, Barrister, Auckland

R v AKASH [2016] NZHC 2348 [4 October 2016]

Introduction

[1] Mr Akash, you have pleaded guilty to, and been convicted of, the murder of

Ms Gurpreet Kaur. Today I decide your sentence.

Facts

[2] First, I need to record the essential facts of the murder. I realise this may be difficult for those affected to hear but it is an essential aspect of the sentencing process.

[3] You are known as Mr Akash, although you also sometimes go by Akash Sharma. You are 24 years old. For about 12 months you were in a relationship with Ms Gurpreet Kaur, who was 22. You told Corrections that you both kept the relationship secret from your families.

[4] Around 8 am on Thursday 7 April 2016, Gurpreet Kaur’s mother dropped her off at the Manurewa train station, as she often did, thinking she was going to study. Instead, you picked her up. You drove south. The medical evidence suggests Gurpreet was some 7 to 10 weeks pregnant. She had not yet told her parents.

[5] Around 9 am you bought methamphetamine in Meremere and continued south. You told Corrections that you used some shortly before the murder. Sometime after that, you told Corrections, Gurpreet Kaur told you she wanted to break off the relationship with you and she said the baby she was carrying was not yours.

[6] You reacted violently. Using a knife you kept in the car, you cut and stabbed Gurpreet 29 times, in her scalp, face, neck, chest and abdomen. A cut to her neck injured her jugular. There were also cuts on her right hand and left forearm, consistent with her defending herself. Of the nine stab wounds, you stabbed her five times in the abdomen. The deepest stab wound was to her mid abdomen.

[7] You disposed of Gurpreet’s body in scrub on the roadside of Hampton Downs

Road, south of Meremere.

[8] At 12.18 pm you bought a few things at the Meremere Superette and headed north. You threw Gurpreet’s bag out the window near Mercer. At Otahuhu you bought new clothes and put your old bloodied clothes in a plastic bag, though you left your old top in the changing room of the shop from where the Police recovered it. Sometime after 5 pm you left your old clothes under the house of an associate in Manurewa.

[9] On the evening of Saturday 9 April 2016 your brother, Mr Nishent Sharma, called the Police to say that you had confessed to the killing and were going to kill yourself. You now say that he did so at the urging of your father in India. The Police found and interviewed…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading R v Akash

Details

AGLC: R v Akash [2016] NZHC 2348
Case: [2016] NZHC 2348
Decision Date: 4 October 2016

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Akash Sharma has been convicted of the murder of his former girlfriend, Gurpreet Kaur. The case was heard in the High Court of New Zealand. The legal issues before the court were determining the appropriate sentence for the murder, considering both the aggravating and mitigating factors, and applying the purposes and principles of the Sentencing Act 2002. The court found that the murder was committed with a high level of brutality, cruelty, depravity, and callousness, particularly because Akash knew that Gurpreet was pregnant and stabbed her most deeply and often in the abdomen, thereby depriving her and her family of the potential of another life. While Akash had no previous criminal history and expressed remorse, the court held that these factors did not mitigate the gravity of the crime. The court sentenced Akash to imprisonment for life, with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years. This sentence reflects the severity of the crime and the need to hold Akash accountable for his actions while also considering the mitigating factors.

Orders