Rajinder has been accused of murdering Gurjit Singh in Dunedin in January last year. Photo: RNZ
The man accused of murdering Dunedin's Gurjit Singh had no motive and the evidence against him is flawed, his lawyer says.
The man, known only as Rajinder, is on trial at the High Court for murdering Singh, who was found dead on the lawn of his home in January last year after being stabbed more than 40 times.
Rajinder's defence lawyer maintained his client had no reason to kill Singh, who was his former employee, and there was no animosity between the men.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Richard Smith said the jury could not be left with any uncertainty about his guilt after lying to the police multiple times and leaving DNA evidence at the scene.
He said a forensic expert had testified that blood samples taken in and around Singh's home were 500,000 million times more likely to be Rajinder's than a random person.
"His blood and hair in the scene. His hair in the victim's hands, his injury and the thumb of the glove left at the scene. Him buying a murder kit. Him saying he didn't even know where the victim lived yet here he is searching out a route to the victim's house on the night of the murder," he said.
"Apply your common sense, it's not rocket science."
Defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC said Rajinder had consistently denied murdering Singh and volunteered to be medically examined.
DNA presented a degree of likelihood and the jury should not be led by them, she said.
"The probabilities sound high... just about make your eyes water because the numbers are huge but the numbers do not make certainty, however large. Numbers go to infinity. Don't be misled by high numbers being a certainty, that high enough is good enough," she said.
Fingerprints and DNA belonging to unidentified people were found at the Singh's property but Stevens said they were not properly examined and one of them could have been the murderer.
The hair found in Singh's hand could have been coincidental because the two men had worked together for several months, they would borrow tools and Singh had bought Rajinder's van.
Stevens argued the police search of Rajinder's house was poorly executed with confusion about what they were looking for and other items missing from the list.
Rajinder lied to police about how he cut his hand, changing his story from a chainsaw accident to a bike crash, Smith said.
Smith said the wound was instead consistent with a sharp object like a knife or glass, not the sharp rock Rajinder claimed was to blame when he tried to pop a wheelie on his bike and the front tyre came off.
A doctor had raised serious doubts about the wound, saying there was no grazing, no bruising and no abrasions from an apparent fall onto gravel, he said.
The Crown instead suggested that Singh had put up a fight while trying to defend himself and Rajinder had cut himself in pursuit.
Smith said Rajinder again lied to the police when he was asked about other injuries and did not refer to "impressive bruising" on his abdomen and bruising on his hip.
The violent attack happened shortly before Singh's wife was due to arrive from India to live with him - the same woman who rejected a proposal from Rajinder.
Smith said that rejection, as well as Singh rejecting Rajinder's plan to marry his sister, was motive for murder.
Anne Stevens KC said that theory did not pass the truth test.
She stressed it would have to be a level of jealously reaching rage but that made no sense because it was a negotiation, there was no love for them, and he had been happily married to his wife since January 2023.
"The notion Rajinder was upset, let alone distraught enough to murder a person becomes ridiculous and implausible. A fantasy of the Crown's," she said.
Smith described the attack as brutal and violent, saying the person who committed the murder knew him and was determined to kill him, chasing him out of his own home.
Rajinder bought gloves from Bunnings and a knife and neck gaiter from Hunting and Fishing the day before the murder but did not tell police during his interview, he said.
Smith said the thumb of the glove was found at the scene, where it appeared to have been detached during the attack.
Stevens questioned why he would buy everything using money from his own bank account, especially when he had knives at home, if he was set on murder.
She instead suggested they were bought for his work as a fibre-optic cable installer.
Rajinder had actively helped Singh become an independent businessman, describing him as honest and hard-working.
He said Rajinder also lied when he told police that he did not know when Singh lived, despite searching multiple times for the man's address on his phone about a month before the attack and again that night.
The search included plotting out directions to Singh's house that went along back roads where he would be less likely to be seen, he said.
Rajinder told police that he always took his wife to Mosgiel for driving lessons but Smith said her phone only showed her going there on the day before and on the day of Singh's death.
Instead of a late driving lesson, the Crown suggested he went there to create an alibi or dispose of evidence after murdering Gurjit Singh.
The jurors will retire on Wednesday after Justice Rachel Dunningham sums up the case.
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