Indian man who buried ex-partner alive in remote South Australia jailed for at least 22 more years

Tarikjot Singh jailed for “revenge” murder of ex-girlfriend Jasmine Kaur. Judge described the killing as “horrific” and “callous in the extreme”.

by Edward Era Barbacena 

Tarikjot Singh abducted 21-year-old Jasmeen Kaur from her Adelaide workplace in March 2021, bound her with tape and cable ties before burying her alive at Moralana Creek near Hawker in the Flinders Ranges.

Singh initially pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Kaur but changed his plea a month before his Supreme Court trial was due to start in March 2023.

The mandatory head sentence for murder is life imprisonment.

On Tuesday, Justice Adam Kimber ordered Singh serve a non-parole period of 22 years and 10 months, which is only slightly longer than the mandatory minimum non-parole period for murder in South Australia of 20 years.

Singh will be aged in his early forties when he becomes eligible to apply for parole in January 2044. 

In handing down the sentence, Justice Adam Kimber said the killing was "horrific" and "callous in the extreme" and that he could not find words to describe the terror of her final moments.

"I am unable to find words to adequately describe how Ms Kaur must have felt when you placed her in the grave and buried her," he said.

"The terror she felt when she was abducted, restrained and kept in the car during the long drive to Moralana Creek is difficult enough to estimate.

"I cannot describe the terror Ms Kaur must have been experiencing when she realised you were burying her alive."

The court heard Singh, who was aged 20 at the time, had not divulged details of how he abducted Ms Kaur from her workplace in Adelaide's western suburbs, and what he did to her afterwards.

However, Justice Adam Kimber said the evidence was clear that she had undergone extreme suffering and had been forced to endure a lengthy car trip while bound and gagged.

"The drive must have taken several hours. Throughout that trip Ms Kaur must have been terrified. You cannot have cared," Justice Kimber said.

"You dug a grave and you buried her while she was still alive."

Justice Kimber said it was clear that the killing was planned and methodical, and Singh had taken steps to cover his tracks.

"The enormity of what you were doing must have been clear to you," " Justice Kimber said.

"There was time for reflection. There was time to depart from the plan. Nonetheless you went ahead and killed Ms Kaur."

Singh cautioned for stalking weeks earlier

Justice Kimber told Singh that he was "satisfied beyond reasonable doubt" that the killer's only concern was for himself.

"Your concern was to follow through on a desire to punish Ms Kaur," he said.

"You killed Ms Kaur in order to punish her for not wanting to be in a relationship with you and for going to the police." 

The court heard that relationship came to an end in early 2021 and a few weeks later Ms Kaur went to police with her concerns about Singh's behaviour.

"Once the relationship came to an end you continued to contact her — this included attempts to pressure her with threats of self-harm," Justice Kimber said.

Police cautioned Singh for stalking in early February 2021, less than a month before the murder. 

In a statement, Ms Kaur's mother Rashpal Kaur welcomed the sentence. 

"Today I do not feel happy. I wish that I was not giving this statement and that Jasmeen was still here by my side," she said. 

"I talk to her every day, we say goodnight to our children, don't we? So, I always say goodnight to my daughter.

"Justice has prevailed and I cannot begin to express our relief.

"We welcome the sentence given, but what I can say is that my family and I have already started our life sentence having to spend the rest of our lives without Jasmeen." 

Singh to be deported upon release

During sentencing submissions, the court heard Singh wrote several messages, which he never ended up sending, to Ms Kaur in the days leading up to her death.

They included statements such as: "Your bad luck that I am still alive, cheap, wait and watch, will get the answer, each and every single one will get the answer" and "'deep inside what I feel but can't get over".

When he was first questioned by police on March 6, he said he could not remember when he last saw Ms Kaur and asserted that he had been at home on the night of her murder.

One day later, Singh told police officers that Ms Kaur had committed suicide and he had buried her in the Flinders Ranges.

He took police to the burial site, where officers found Ms Kaur's shoes, glasses and work name badge in a bin, alongside looped cable ties.

Singh, an Indian national who came to Australia to study IT at university and who had also been working as a respite carer, will likely be deported when he is released from jail.