NZ court awards life term to girl for brutal murder of Punjab boy

An 18-year-old girl, Rosie Lewis, was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by the high court at Napier in New Zealand for the brutal murder of 30-year-old Sandeep Dhiman whom she met on the dating app, Tinder.

He was beaten, stabbed nine times and left to die beside a remote road north of Napier, on the night of December 17, 2017, a day before his birthday.

Sandeep, who hailed from Kharar, had come to New Zealand to study in 2015 and was working with a telecom company.

The sentence, with a minimum term of 11 years, comes after Rosie pleaded guilty to the murder and aggravated robbery. Co-offender Shaun Karauria, 17, at the time of the killing, had also earlier pleaded guilty and was sentenced on May 25 to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 12 years.

Sandeep was killed as Rosie wanted his car, a 2006 Toyota Passo, and she conspired with her ‘cousin’ Karauria to ‘smash’ him, stab him, and dump him at a remote place.

Both had met a few times earlier and on the night of December 17 last year, they persuaded Dhiman to take them to the remote rural area of Tutira, a 40-minute drive north of Napier.

They took away his car and two cell phones, and put the car up for sale online next morning. His body was found next morning by a passing truck driver. COURTESY: BABUSHAHI.COM

ROSIE LEWIS AND HER COUSIN HAD KILLED SANDEEP DHIMAN OF KHARAR IN DECEMBER LAST YEAR