An east Auckland man who stalked a young woman and went on to stab her to death has failed to convince the Court of Appeal his prison sentence was excessive.
East Tamaki resident Kanwarpal Singh was jailed for life and ordered to serve at least 17 years behind bars in 2023 for the vicious killing of Farzana Yaqubi the previous year.
The case’s summary of facts states Singh and his victim were known to each other.
They met in late 2020 when Singh was working as a security guard on Queen Street in Auckland CBD.
Yaqubi, 21, was a refugee from Afghanistan and studying law at Auckland University of Technology.
When she passed his workplace, he struck up a conversation with her and invited her on a coffee date. Following this he began to continuously message her via social media.
“As a result, she blocked Singh on her social media accounts,” the summary of facts states.
“In 2021 and 2022, Singh created multiple new social media accounts and contacted Ms Yaqubi on these. Singh began threatening Ms Yaqubi via these accounts.”
He threatened to kidnap her and said he would give her 365 days to fall in love with him. In another message he threatened to throw acid on her face.
Singh added Yaqubi’s family members and friends on social media in an effort to contact her.
In October, 2022, she made an online report to police, complaining about his “harassing” behaviour.
One day in December that year she noticed him following her at an Auckland shopping centre and approached a security officer for assistance.
Singh used social media the next day to send her a video taken outside her home address.
Fearing for her safety, she went to a police station and made a statement about his “stalking” behaviour.
On December 7, 2022, Singh arranged for a pizza to be delivered to Yaqubi’s home address.
Twelve days later, on December 19, she finished work and caught a bus to west Auckland.
She got off the bus and entered an alleyway beside a sports complex. Singh was waiting nearby in his vehicle and approached her while armed with a large knife.
Yaqubi tried to phone police, but Singh stabbed her multiple times in the stomach and chest with the knife before fleeing the scene.
She received 12 stab wounds as well as defensive injuries including a partly severed thumb. Four of the stab wounds would have been individually fatal.
Police arrested Singh at his home the following day. He admitted to stabbing Yaqubi and went on to plead guilty to her murder.
Singh has since appealed his sentence, arguing it was manifestly excessive.
His counsel argued to the Court of Appeal that the High Court erred in determining there was no casual nexus between his personal, family and cultural background and the crime.
“We cannot accept the submission that Mr Singh’s exposure to violence in the home within a conservative culture predisposed him to react as he did when he felt his control within a close relationship was at risk,” the Court of Appeal ruled.
“First, he was not in a close relationship with the victim. He was stalking her and had been told on numerous occasions his attentions were unwelcome.
“Secondly, any exposure to violence in the home and predisposition to react with threats and violence cannot be considered to have a causal nexus to the commission of a murder of a particularly vulnerable victim, which involved planning, brutality and callousness.”
Singh’s appeal against his sentence was dismissed.
