Son drunk on whisky kills his dad
A Waikato man drunk on whisky who killed his own father by pushing him through the glass pane of a door during a violent confrontation has admitted a single charge of manslaughter.
Bahadur Singh, 43, appeared in the High Court in Hamilton yesterday where he pleaded guilty to a single charge of manslaughter relating to events of March 16.
As the summary of facts reveals, Singh was the oldest of three sons in a family that owned and operated a large scale dairy farm in Valintine Rd in Gordonton, near Morrinsville.
Unlike his siblings, Bahadur Singh’s relationship with his family in recent years had become fractured, partially as a result of his intake of alcohol and drugs.
On the evening the incident happened, he arrived home drunk, having consumed ‘‘a significant amount’’ of whisky throughout the day.
Sometime after 7pm his younger brother Bilkar Singh arrived with a friend to drop off food to their parents, Gurnam Singh, 69, and Balbir Singh, 67.
Bahadur Singh emerged from a room and became aggressive to his brother, yelling and shouting while holding a stock stick, which he banged on a kitchen server.
Gurnam Singh ordered his unruly son to leave the house.
Bahadur refused and continued to attack his brother.
Hoping to de-escalate the situation, Bilkar headed to the rear of the house, followed by Bahadur who kept up his abuse.
‘‘You guys better watch out, I’m going to kill you all,’’ he shouted, before challenging Bilkar to a fight. Bilkar refused and was walking away when Bahadur punched him in the
back, causing him to fall off a deck onto paving below. Their father rang the police.
Bilkar also asked his friend to call the police, and seek help from his other brother, Jagdeep Singh, who lived nearby.
Bilkar managed to wrestle his older brother to the ground and restrain him and, on the return of his friend several minutes later, used a length of rope to tie the drunk man’s hands behind his back. Jagdeep arrived soon after.
Bahadur kept up his abuse and threats against his brothers and father. Jagdeep decided the matter was under control and left. However, Bahadur managed to break free.
Fearing his older brother would continue to assault him, and hoping his absence would result in Bahadur calming down, Bilkar also left the property.
But Bahadur’s rage turned on his father. As Bahadur tried to get in the back door, his father attempted to keep him out by holding the door – and a tug of war of sorts ensued.
Despite Gurnam Singh’s best efforts, Bahadur managed to get in, and confronted him in the doorway. They grabbed each other’s shirts.
Bahadur pushed his father through a glass pane of the door. Gurnam suffered a large, deep wound to his upper right buttock, severing a main artery. He also suffered a laceration to his left forearm.
The police arrived soon after and found Gurnam Singh lying unconscious on the deck. He then went into cardiac arrest. He died in Waikato Hospital about 7am the next morning.
Singh was convicted by Justice Graham Lang and remanded in custody for sentencing on December 17.
Singh was also issued a first strike warning under the soon-to-be-repelled ‘‘three strikes’’ legislation.