One of the men accused of attempting to murder a controversial Punjabi radio host has claimed he has been framed, and under cross-examination was accused of falsifying details to try to explain why he knew about details of the attack early on the morning after.
Harnek Singh, also known as Nekki, is a well-known figure in the Sikh community and broadcaster with nearly half a million YouTube subscribers, but not everyone agreed with his views, especially orthodox Sikh’s, prosecutor Luke Radich previously told the jury.
In December 2020, the Crown allege a charismatic man with name suppression, so angered about Harnek’s views, came up with a plan to kill Harnek, but got others to carry out the attack.
That man and Jobanpreet Singh have pleaded not guilty to a joint charge of attempted murder. Sukhpreet Singh is charged with being an accessory after the fact for allegedly helping two of Harnek’s attackers afterwards.
Jobanpreet began giving evidence on Monday and told jurors he had been framed by Jaspal Singh.
Jaspal is serving a jail sentence after he admitted his part in the near-fatal frenzied stabbing. He previously told the court, himself, Jobanpreet and Sarvjeet Sidhu, who has also pleaded guilty, were all part of the attack and stabbed Harnek.
“He’s telling absolute lies. He never used to like me from day one at the Sikh temple. He’s trying to save his own friend, and he’s implicating someone else,” Jobanpreet said.
Supplied
Harnek Singh was stabbed ‘within an inch of his life’.
But Jobanpreet repeatedly told Radich he was not part of the attack.
“It is everyone’s individual perspective how they look at the religion and that is their choice,” Jobanpreet told his lawyer Elizabeth Gresson.
The court heard Jobanpreet was in a relationship with the man with name suppression’s daughter during 2020.
They were even speaking about marriage.
But despite this, he claimed he was not part of a “tight circle” with the man and was not a regular attendee of a temple all the defendants attended, only going for big celebrations and holy songs.
On the day of the attack, Jobanpreet told the court Savjeet turned up to his house and took a phone he’d used for work.
That phone later polled near where Harnek was attacked.
Jobanpreet told the court at around 7pm that evening, he’d left his home with some friends and met another man before then going to buy groceries and returning home.
The court heard some of these “alibi witnesses” will be called to give evidence for Jobanpreet’s case.
However, Radich presented him with a statement from one of the men his friend had claimed to meet up with, who then told police he hadn’t had contact with the man since November 2020.
“This story is a complete lie isn’t it?” Radich suggested to Jobanpreet, who denied it.
Jobanpreet told the court he’d returned home, gone to bed before waking up around 4.30am on December 24.
Ricky Wilson/Stuff
Jaspal Sing is the serving a jail sentence for his part in the attack.
From about 7.47am on December 24, Jobanpreet and his girlfriend share numerous messages.
Some of the messages detail what happened to Harnek, but Jobanpreet claimed that was because he was reading news articles around that time detailing the attack.
But Radich suggested to Jobanpreet he’d falsified screenshots of the news articles and the times they were posted on social media by changing the time zone on his computer to make it appear earlier.
“You’ve falsified evidence you’ve brought to court to try and explain why you knew about this,” Radish said.
However, again Jobanpreet denied this.
“Why would I want to mislead the court. I’ve come to court to get justice.”
Just after 8am, Jobanpreet messages his girlfriend saying: “He got stabbed with knives all across his neck…we never thought he will still be safe”.
Gurbinder Singh and Jagraj Singh, who the Crown alleged were party to the attempted murder by driving the car that ran Harnek off the road before he was stabbed are no longer part of the trial.
Justice Mark Woolford told the jury on Monday they would not need to reach verdicts for Gurbinder and Jagraj, but would still need to reach verdicts for the other three defendants.
The trial before Justice Woolford and a jury continues.
