Murder victim Jasmeen Kaur told police killer ex Tarikjot Singh was “over possessive” during relationship

Jasmeen Kaur complained to police her former partner Tarikjot Singh was “over possessive” and stalking her, repeatedly waiting outside her workplace. Just weeks later, she was dead.

Murder victim Jasmeen Kaur provided a statement to police just five weeks before her death outlining how her “over possessive” killer repeatedly waited for her outside her workplace after they broke up.

In the statement, signed on January 28, 2021 – just five weeks before the 21-year-old was abducted, bound and buried alive in the Flinders Ranges – she said she had been in a controlling relationship with Tarikjot Singh, 23, for about nine months.

“He was over possessive and wanted to control who I spent time with,” she said in the document, released by the Supreme Court.

Ms Kaur told police she had ended the relationship on January 4, 2021, but Singh “didn’t take this well”.

“He stated that I had to be with him or if not he would attempt suicide,” she said.

During their relationship she said Singh had, on occasion, “got upset” when she made plans to go out with friends and would call her and tell her to go home.

Tarikjot Singh.

Jasmeen Kaur.

The day after their split, Ms Kaur said she was working an afternoon shift as a carer at a Southern Cross Care Home, Plympton, when she spotted Singh through a window.

She went outside during her break and he pleaded with her not to end the relationship. He again threatened suicide so she called a friend of his to check on him.

“When I ended my shift at 9pm I went outside and found Tarikjot in his car affected by some type of drug,” she said.

She said Singh’s friend took him to hospital. She was given a “suicide letter” in which Singh blamed her family for the demise of their relationship.

The following day, on January 6, 2021, Singh and a member of his family arrived at the home she shared with her aunt in a bid to convince her to come with them.

Ms Kaur outlined how Singh had played TikTok videos to her family of the couple in a hotel room in a bid to “diminish” her reputation.

The next day, on January 7, 2021, Singh again returned to her workplace and waited near her car for her shift to end. Ms Kaur said she ignored him and left, but he “followed me in his car all the way home”.

Family and friends left tributes at the Flinders Ranges site where Jasmeen Kaur’s body was found. Pics supplied

Jasmeen Kaur was stalked by her former partner before her murder. Picture: Supplied by Family

“When I got home he kept going but I didn’t feel safe or comfortable with what he was doing,” she told police.

She said Singh continued to call and plead with her to rekindle their relationship and threatened to further distribute videos of the former couple if she did not comply. On the day she gave her statement, she said her “very distressed and upset” mother, who lived in India, had called her because Singh had sent her the videos.

Police cautioned Singh for stalking on February 9, 2021.

A month later, on the evening of March 5, 2021, Singh again attended her workplace and abducted her.

Earlier that day, he was captured on CCTV at Bunnings, Mile End, purchasing cable ties, gaffer tape, gloves and a shovel. He had also bought fuel and, about 3.30am on March 4, 2021, accessed a document containing locations for Safe-T-Cam’s – traffic cameras on major arterial roads used to detect unregistered vehicles.

Tarikjot Singh was captured driving his friend's car north after abducting Jasmeen Kaur. Picture: Courts SA.

He swapped his car with his housemate and put his phone’s SIM card into another handset, swapping it back upon his return home from the Flinders Ranges about 6pm on March 6, 2021. He was home that evening when police came to ask about Ms Kaur’s whereabouts.

The court has heard Singh was supposed to work an overnight shift at a southern suburbs pub on the night Ms Kaur was abducted, but his housemate worked the shift instead.

He later made admissions to an aunt, then told police Ms Kaur had taken her own life and he had buried her in the Flinders Ranges, north of Hawker.

He led police to the site on March 7, who found Ms Kaur buried under 30cm of sand. Her hands were bound, she was blindfolded and her throat had been cut – but those wounds were found to be superficial.

She was buried alive.

Grieving family of murder victim Jasmeen Kaur visited the site where her body was discovered in the weeks after her murder. Picture: Tom Huntley

Singh pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Kaur in February.

In a sentencing submissions hearing prosecutor Carmen Matteo SC said Ms Kaur’s planned and premeditated murder “involved an uncommon level of cruelty”.

“Ms Kaur was buried alive and she was buried while she was conscious,” Ms Matteo said.

“(She) had inhaled and swallowed soil that had made its way as far as her lower oesophagus. She was actively breathing in and swallowing soil while she was alive.”

She said the hopelessness Ms Kaur must have experienced in those moments amounted to “absolute terror”.

“It was a killing that was committed as an act of vengeance,” Ms Matteo said.

Martin Anders, for Singh, had told the court his client was a young man who was “not able to cope” with the relationship breakdown, and that he suffered hallucinations and still heard her voice.

In an earlier hearing, Ms Kaur’s mother Rashpaul Kaur had told the court in a victim impact statement the loss of her “precious little girl” had left her broken-hearted.

“I am tormented by the thought of what she endured, I wonder when she realised that she was in mortal danger,” she said.

“I wonder what her murderer told her before she died, she was handcuffed and was helpless.”

Justice Adam Kimber has formally imposed a mandatory life sentence on Singh. He set a non-parole period when Singh returned to court on August 1.