A teenage girl from New Zealand charged with the murder of an Indian IT technician last December has been denied bail, NZ Herald reported.
Local media reported that the 17-year-old girl who is charged with the murder of Sandeep Dhiman in Napier on December 18, appeared in High Court on February 7 to apply for electronically-monitored bail. She remains in custody and has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and aggravated robbery. Shaun Liam Karauria, also 17 and her partner in crime, too has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.
Judge Peter Churchman, after denying bail to the accused, adjourned the court’s hearing and ordered a report to be produced in court regarding the availability of a place in a secure youth facility where she could be kept before the trial in November. Judge Churchman gave orders of continued name suppression for the accused teenager.
Sandeep, who was in his early 30s and hailed from Kharar in Punjab, near Chandigarh, was driving his Toyota car between Hastings and Tutira, near Napier, reportedly to buy some milk on December 18 when two teenagers waylaid him only to rob him of his car and two mobile phones after killing him. His last rites were performed in his hometown on December 24, after his body was flown from New Zealand.
A passerby located his body on the roadside and alerted the police which swung into action and arrested the accused the same night, and also recovered Sandeep’s car and mobile phones from them.
According to The Tribune, the deceased arrived in New Zealand as an IT student in 2015. He was currently working as a fibre technician in one of the country’s leading telecom companies. At the time of his murder, his parents were visiting their other son, Dheeraj, in Australia. Sandeep’s parents, Jai Pal and Sudesh spoke with him the same evening he was murdered. His mother got alarmed when Sandeep didn’t reply to her WhatsApp messages till 7 am the next day. His employer lodged an FIR with the police when Sandeep didn’t report to work the next day and was incommunicado. Upon hearing about this, Dheeraj flew from Australia to New Zealand only to see his brutally-murdered brother’s body. Sandeep was to fly to India in January for his marriage.
