Murderer Tarikjot Singh stalked, abducted and then buried Jasmeen Kaur alive, court told

This is the last photo of Tarikjot Singh – driving a car in which his helpless ex was tied up after she rejected him. He buried her alive in a remote SA spot.

A jealous man abducted his ex-girlfriend, bound her with tape and cable ties before burying her alive in a remote SA location in an act of vengeance, a court has heard.

And less than a month before Jasmeen Kaur was murdered, she reported to police she was being stalked, the court was told.

Tarikjot Singh, 21, has pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Kaur, 21, just before he was scheduled to stand trial in the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, Justice Adam Kimber heard sentencing submissions for Singh and for the first time details of his crime were aired in court.

Carmen Matteo SC, prosecuting, said the “nature and level of violence” involved in the way Ms Kaur was murdered “involved an uncommon level of cruelty”.

She said Singh had failed to accept their relationship breakdown when he planned the murder.

Murder victim Jasmeen Kaur was killed in the Flinders Ranges and buried in a shallow grave by her stalker ex, Tarikjot Singh. Picture: Supplied by Family

She said Singh “had to have been” digging the shallow grave in which he buried Ms Kaur while she was still alive.

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

He said Singh had made “superficial” cuts to Ms Kaur’s throat with an unknown object to stage her death as a suicide.

“(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. That was the manner in which she died.

“She had to have been aware in those moments of the hopelessness of her situation. She had to had to have been consciously suffering what can only be described as the absolute terror or breathing in and swallowing soil and dying in that way.”

Items located in a roadside bin at Death Rock, at Kanyake Waterhole, in the Flinders Ranges include Jasmeen Kaur's work name badge and duct tape and cable ties. Picture: Courts SA.

Items located in a roadside bin at Death Rock, at Kanyake Waterhole, in the Flinders Ranges include Jasmeen Kaur's work name badge and duct tape and cable ties. Picture: Courts SA

Tarikjot Singh seen driving his friend’s car north after abducting Jasmeen Kaur. She was bound in the car at the time. Picture: Courts SA.

“(It was) a killing that was committed as an act of vengeance or as an act of revenge,” she said.

Ms Matteo said the refusal to accept the relationship breakdown had led to Singh’s “cold and clinical planning of what was inevitably going to be dreadful crime”.

Ms Matteo told the court Ms Kaur had made a complaint to police about Singh, her ex-boyfriend, stalking her about a month before she was killed.

Singh was formally cautioned by police on February 9, 2021.

Ms Matteo laid out evidence of Singh’s infatuation with Ms Kaur – including numerous messages he authored, but did not send, in which he made statements such as “your bad luck I am still alive”.

The day of Ms Kaur’s abduction, Singh went to Bunnings in Mile End and was captured on security camera spending five minutes perusing cable ties before making several purchases, including a shovel.

A day earlier Singh had downloaded a map of security cameras throughout Adelaide.

On the afternoon of the abduction Singh removed the SIM card from his phone, placed it in a different phone and left it at his home.

Murderous stalker Tarikjot Singh killed Jasmeen Kaur. Picture: Supplied

He swapped cars with his flatmate and asked him to perform his driving shift for him. Ms Matteo said the swap was designed to create an alibi for himself.

In his flatmate’s car, Singh drove to Ms Kaur’s workplace and abducted her in the late evening of March 5.

It was the last time Ms Kaur was seen alive.

A security camera later that evening took photos of Singh heading north. Ms Kaur was not visible in the car with him, leading Ms Matteo to conclude she was restrained in the back seat or the boot.

Ms Kaur was murdered and buried in the Flinders Ranges. She was found with her hands bound behind her back with a cable tie, her feet taped and cable-tied together and a blindfold over her face.

Singh disposed of evidence including Ms Kaur’s work ID card, clothing and looped cable ties at a rest stop on the way back to Adelaide.

When questioned by police Singh initially denied any knowledge of Ms Kaur’s whereabouts but quickly changed his story – saying she had taken her own life and he had buried her body.

Singh took police to where Ms Kaur was buried and the position and state of the body showed that she had been murdered.

Ms Matteo said his level of co-operation with police was “in the context of advancing a lie”.

She said he had not revealed when or where she was restrained, when her throat was cut or when she was placed into the grave.

Murder victim Jasmeen Kaur.

Martin Anders, for Singh, said his client had fallen apart in the aftermath of the relationship breakdown with Ms Kaur.

“In essence you have a young man, a very young man just out of his teens, and he was not able to cope with the breakdown of a relationship which meant everything to him,” he said.

“He took steps which destroyed not only her life, but his life.”

Mr Anders argued Singh had diminished capacity to commit the murder because of his spiralling mental health in the weeks before the killing.

For months after his arrest Singh experienced hallucinations he was still talking to Ms Kaur. The court heard he still hears her voice.

However, Justice Kimber questioned what aspects of Singh’s behaviour showed he was less culpable for the crime of murder.

“He put in train a series of careful steps over a period of time to enable him to carry out a crime which couldn’t be carried out immediately,” he said.

“It wasn’t that he assaulted her at her workplace and she died. The prosecution say he abducted her, bound her, killed her, buried her, disposed of evidence which might implicate him in the crime.”

Justice Kimber formally imposed a mandatory life sentence. He will set a non-parole period next month.

Originally published as Murderer Tarikjot Singh stalked, abducted and then buried Jasmeen Kaur alive, court told