‘I hope you never have a day of peace’
Young mother’s family deliver harrowing impact statements as killer gets 19 years
Family members of a young mum brutally murdered by her stalker in a frenzied attack have told the killer they hope he never has a day of peace again.
Rohit Deepak Singh, 42, was found guilty of the murder of Arishma Singh (Chand) by a jury last November in the High Court at Auckland.
Yesterday he was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of imprisonment of 19 years by Justice Grant Powell.
The 24-year-old mum was killed during the early hours of November 12, 2017, after her ex-boyfriend lay in wait at her Manurewa home with a large kitchen knife.
It took the jury little more than 40 minutes to reach a unanimous verdict after a month-long trial.
The anguish Arishma’s family suffers constantly was also displayed in court yesterday.
Rakesh and Aradhana Singh, Arishma’s parents, discovered their daughter’s body when they returned to their home.
“The night I held my lifeless daughter in a pool of blood turned my world upside down,” Rakesh wrote in his victim impact statement, which was read to the court by a support person.
Arishma’s 3-year-old daughter now “constantly asks where her mummy is”, he said.
“Then again my heart shatters.” He turned to Singh, who was sitting in the dock seemingly emotionless, as his statement said: “You destroyed our family, our lives.”
A statement from Arishma’s mother, who was overcome with tears, was also read. Aradhana told her daughter’s killer: “I hate you for your cowardly act. You shattered Arishma’s dreams and hopes.”
Aradhana hoped the murderer paid dearly for the suffering he has caused.
“No parent should have to go through what we’ve gone through,” her statement read. “I hope you truly never have a day of peace.”
Rakesh and Aradhana have now also been forced to engage an immigration lawyer in an attempt to gain New Zealand residency after leaving their elderly parents in Fiji to care for their granddaughter.
Crown prosecutor Yelena Yelavich sought a minimum of 18 to 19 years in prison for Rohit Singh.
The motive for the murder, the Crown prosecutors told the court at trial, was his obsession with Arishma.
He was in a relationship with Arishma which ended in August 2016, Crown lawyer Claire Robertson explained a trial.
But he “refused to accept she didn’t want to be with him”, she said.
The murder, Justice Powell said, involved lengthy planning and a high degree of cruelty and depravity.
“It was both brutal and callous. An evil act the consequences of which can never be undone.”