Addict cleared of temple murder

[sarblohsingh2004]

Vaheguru Jee Ka Khalsa, Vaheguru Jee Kee Fateh !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...nds/4103183.stm

Addict cleared of temple murder

Sohan Singh was beaten with a crow bar and tied up

A heroin addict has been cleared of murdering an elderly worshipper at a Sikh temple in Wolverhampton.

Steven Masih, 26, admitted the manslaughter of Sohan Singh, who died after he was attacked at the Guru Nanak temple in Cannock Road last year.

The 78-year-old was beaten with a crowbar when he tried to stop cash and property being taken on Christmas Eve.

Birmingham Crown Court heard Masih was trying to fund his £100 a day habit. He is due to be sentenced on Friday.

Mr Singh was tied up during his ordeal.

A 14-year-old boy who witnessed the attack in the early hours of the morning called emergency services.

I cannot see it as manslaughter, I see it as murder.

Community leader Mohan Singh

The court was told Mr Singh, who died in hospital five days later, suffered a brain haemorrhage because of a rise in blood pressure due to the stress of the attack.

Masih from Quinton, Birmingham, denied murdering him and the jury decided he had not intended to cause Mr Singh serious bodily harm.

They were told he was also responsible for a number of break-ins at temples across the West Midlands.

There was anger from across the Sikh community at Thursday's verdict.

Community leader Mohan Singh, said: "If somebody has gone in there to pick something up, any possessions, then fine

you can walk out but if somebody has gone in picked them up and killed somebody then I cannot see it as manslaughter, I see it as murder."

The court heard Masih visited gurdwaras as a child as he had Sikh grandparents.

Police praised a pawnbrokers shop in Kings Heath, Birmingham who recognised some microphones Masih sold onto them.

Mick Jones from Cash Converters said: "I couldn't understand that he committed an offence literally hours earlier and was as happy and relaxed as he was in doing the process with us."

Masih will be sentenced on Friday.

[sarblohsingh2004]

Vaheguru Jee Ka Khalsa, Vaheguru Jee Kee Fateh !

Eight years for elderly Sikh's killer Dec 18 2004

http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/0100ne...-name_page.html

A heroin addict who killed an elderly Sikh worshipper by bludgeoning him with a crow-bar after breaking into a Midland temple has been jailed for eight years.

Steven Masih struck 78-year-old Sohan Singh a number of blows about the head and body after the pensioner confronted him at the Guru Nanak Satsang Gurdwara Temple in Cannock Road, Wolverhampton last Christmas eve.

Mr Singh died four days after the attack after suffering a large blood clot to the brain.

On Thursday at Birmingham Crown Court, Masih (26) of Hagley Road West, Quinton, was acquitted of murdering Mr Singh. He had already previously admitted a charge of manslaughter.

He had also pleaded guilty to six charges of burglary and one attempted burglary.

In passing sentence on him, Mrs Justice Gloster said there were a number of aggravating features including the fact the violence Masih used went beyond that which was necessary to enable him to carry out the burglary, and the fact that he had trussed his elderly victim up "like an animal".

She said she accepted the violence had only been short-lived and that Masih was taken by surprise in the dark, but went on: "This was a vile attack on a devout elderly man respected in his community."

The judge said it was also clear that Mr Singh's death had bee

n the result of the stress of the attack. Robert Juckes QC, prosecuting, said Masih had carried out a ten-month spree of break-ins at Sikh or Hindu temples

[Bachan Vidya]

This means he will only do 4 years. :wub: @

Fours years for killing one of our elders!