Man wrongly accused of murdering his wife by lighting her on fire has been awarded court costs, after a judge found there was no evidence that he was anywhere near her at the time

[Premi5]

Kulwinder Singh awarded court costs after ‘unreasonable’ murder charge

Georgina Mitchell

February 10, 2023 — 5.40pm

 

A man who was wrongly accused of murdering his wife by lighting her on fire has been awarded court costs, after a judge found it was unreasonable to prosecute him because there was no evidence that he was anywhere near her at the time.

Instead, the judge found, it is likely the wife set herself on fire in an echo of a Bollywood movie she had just watched, killing herself accidentally when the fire reacted to the synthetic clothing she was wearing.

Kulwinder Singh faced trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of killing Parwinder Kaur, 32, by pouring petrol on her and setting her alight at their Rouse Hill home in Sydney’s north-west on the afternoon of December 2, 2013.

His fingerprints and DNA were not detected on a tin of petrol and a lighter found in the laundry, however his wife’s fingerprints and DNA were on both items. When Kaur ran down the driveway engulfed in flames, Singh could be seen running behind her attempting to pat her out.

 

Prosecutors argued at an initial trial in 2019 that Singh either threatened his wife to pour petrol on herself and light it, or had poured the petrol and used the lighter himself, leaving no trace on the objects.

A jury was unable to reach a verdict in the 2019 trial, and Singh was found not guilty following a retrial in 2021.

 

Kulwinder Singh (left) faced trial accused of murdering Parwinder Kaur (right).

In a judgment on Friday, Justice Natalie Adams said there was “significant difficulty” with the proposition that Singh was in the laundry when the fire began, because there was no DNA or fingerprint evidence putting him there, and no petrol residue on his clothes.

Adams said Kaur and Singh had been arguing because she had been giving money to relatives to help them migrate to Australia, rather than paying her share of the mortgage.

 

The judge said Singh and Kaur had fought over this on the day of her death, and he began to pack his bags to go to his mother’s house.

Earlier that day, Kaur had been watching the Bollywood movie Gadar, where a woman torn between her sense of duty to her family and her in-laws is hospitalised with an injury, causing her extended family to reconcile because they are so concerned for her.

“The fact that this film was the last thing that the deceased watched before the argument with her husband and her tragic death is informative and consistent with the defence case,” Adams said.

She said the evidence suggested Kaur wet her hair and wrapped it in a towel to protect it, called triple zero, then set herself alight, with fingerprints on the petrol tin consistent with Kaur pouring it onto herself.

 

The judge said it is “hardly surprising” that police would initially suspect Singh of killing his wife, because he was the only other person home, but “the physical evidence overwhelmingly pointed to Ms Kaur being the one who poured the accelerant on herself and ignited it some time later”.

“The evidence as to the plot of the film she was watching immediately prior to doing so confirms other aspects of the physical evidence that, tragically, that is what most likely occurred,” Adams said.

“Having regard to all of the relevant facts, I am satisfied that it was not reasonable for the prosecution to commence proceedings for murder against Mr Singh.”