The charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice followed the murder of Gurjeet Singh, for which Rajinder was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17.5 years.
Singh, a well-known member of Dunedin’s Indian community, had been found outside his home in January 2024, partially decapitated with 46 stab or slash wounds.
The court heard while Kaur had no knowledge or involvement in the murder of Singh, she had attempted to pervert the course of justice by later attempting to dispose of the shoes her husband wore the night of the murder.
According to the summary of facts, Kaur was approached by police at her workplace on February 5 and asked to provide a statement about her activities around the time of the killing.
Before leaving with officers, Kaur took her handbag into a toilet cubicle and later emerged appearing distressed.
Police found dark lace-up shoes in the bin, which Kaur later admitted discarding out of fear.
Forensic testing later found glass fragments embedded in the soles, consistent with glass from a broken window at the murder scene.
Justice Cameron Mander said Kaur’s offending went beyond a spur-of-the-moment act of panic, noting she had taken the shoes to work before police approached her.
He said this indicated there had been an earlier plan to remove the shoes from the couple’s home and pointed to a “high degree of culpability”.
Kaur’s lawyer argued her actions had been influenced by loyalty to her husband and cultural factors surrounding her upbringing and marriage.
However, Justice Mander said courts had to take a “hard line” when someone knowingly attempted to conceal evidence connected to a murder.
The court heard victim impact statements from Singh’s wife, who said losing her husband was the most painful experience of her life.
She said Kaur had an opportunity to do the right thing but chose not to.
His younger sister said Kaur’s actions had caused the family further shock, anger and emotional suffering, and she could not understand why Kaur had helped the man responsible for her brother’s death rather than encouraging him to take responsibility.
The court heard Kaur moved from Haryana, India, to New Zealand in 2023 after an arranged marriage and had known her husband for only about a month before they married.
The court heard Rajinder and his family became Kaur’s sole support after she left her own family in India.
Following Rajinder’s murder conviction, the relationship between Kaur and his family deteriorated, and she obtained protection orders against him and several relatives.
She is now seeking a divorce and has been left largely reliant on government and other support in New Zealand.
The judge adopted a starting point of 16 months’ imprisonment, saying Kaur’s conduct was sufficiently serious that she could alternatively have been charged as an accessory after the fact to murder – an offence carrying the same maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment.
He accepted her cultural and religious background had contributed to a “compelling and misguided” sense of loyalty to her husband and allowed a 10% sentencing discount for those factors.
Combined with discounts for her guilty plea and previous good character, Kaur received a total discount of 35%, reducing the sentence to a notional 10 months’ imprisonment.
However, Justice Mander rejected the defence bid for a community-based sentence, saying attempts to interfere with the administration of justice had to be strongly deterred.
Kaur was sentenced to five months’ home detention.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.