By Mark Russell, The Age
AN Indian national who wanted to be a famous singer in Bollywood – but ended up working as a process worker at Cadbury – has been jailed for at least five years after stabbing a friend nine times.
Supreme Court Justice Betty King said Jatinder Singh, 34, stabbed his friend, Kuldeep Singh Virhia, at a time when both men had been having an affair with another man’s wife.
Singh pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally causing serious injury to Mr Virhia and one count of intentionally causing injury to Dilbag Singh Bhuller on December 17, 2011.
Justice King said on Monday that the circumstances of the stabbing were “to a large degree bizarre” and the consequences had been horrific.
Mr Virhia had almost died during what was “a savage and brutal attack”.
Singh had arrived in Australia in December 2006 and shared a unit in Clayton for several years with Mr Virhia before the Bhuller family – Dilbag Bhuller, his wife Ramandeep and son – moved in next door.
Mr Virhia began an affair with Mrs Bhuller soon after the family had moved in.
Singh then began an affair with Mrs Bhuller in 2011.
Justice King said neither Dilbag Bhuller or Kuldeep Virhia were aware Singh was having sex with Mrs Bhuller. Mr Bhuller did not know his wife was also having an affair with Mr Virhia.
The judge said the three men, Mrs Bhuller and their son then all moved in together at a house in Noble Park.
“The Crown have indicated that the affair with Kuldeep Virhia continued after you all moved to Noble Park but that it ceased when Virhia moved out of the premises,” Justice King said.
“It would appear that you thought or believed that Ramandeep Bhuller was going to divorce her husband and marry you.
“However, it was not her intention.
“She was in fact trying to end the relationship with you and she had told you that he was not prepared to leave her husband.”
The judge said Singh had developed a severe dislike for Mr Bhuller because he was jealous of his relationship with his wife.
Singh was also angry at comments Mr Bhuller had made about his mother and sister who still lived in India.
“By November of 2011, you were still living in the shared house in Comber Street and were sleeping on a mattress in the loungeroom, but that Kuldeep Virhia had left and was living elsewhere,” the judge said.
On December 17, 2011, Singh asked Mr Virhia at a local pub to help him bash Mr Bhuller.
Mr Virhia refused and told him not to do anything before the pair returned to the Noble Park house.
“When you arrived back, Dilbag was still awake and lying on the couch in the loungeroom area. Ramandeep Bhuller was in her bedroom with her son,” the judge said.
“You and Kuldeep Virhia sat down for a short time before you confronted Dilbag by standing in front of him and yelling – asking why he had abused you. You then started to punch him to the face and the body.
“Kuldeep Virhia told you to stop. Dilbag got up off the couch and attempted to run away, you grabbed him and threw him on to the mattress next to where Kuldeep Virhia was sitting and continued to punch him to the face.
“Kuldeep Virhia then grabbed you and pulled you away, at which stage Dilbag was able to escape and he ran into the bedroom where his wife and son were and held the door shut.
“You continued to try to force open the door of the bedroom. You then became angry with Kuldeep Virhia asking him why he didn’t help you to bash Dilbag and why he was trying to stop you.”
Justice King said Singh grabbed a large silver kitchen knife and stabbed Mr Virhia a total of nine times on two separate occasions, telling him, “You deserve to die.”
The judge said the stabbing was a bizarre crime because it seemed quite inexplicable as Singh was not affected by alcohol or drugs and had no mental health issues.
“This crime really remains to a large degree inexplicable, except to say that you got angry.
“It is hard to understand your anger with either Dilbag Bhuller or Kuldeep Virhia. In terms of Dilbag Bhuller you were conducting an illicit extra-marital affair with his wife, therefore you could only be described as deceiving him, and in terms of Kuldeep Virhia, your anger appeared to be directed towards the fact that he would not assist you in bashing Dilbag Bhuller. A far from normal or rational explanation for your anger.”
The judge said prior to his affair with Mrs Bhuller, “it would appear that you had had no sexual relationship at all with a female”.
“The affair with Ramandeep Bhuller was, of course, secret and tense, because of the nature of the relationship, undoubtedly making it more exciting than the relationship would otherwise have been.”
Singh was jailed for seven years, with a non-parole period of five years.
