Indian national Gureswak Singh pleads guilty to stealing woman’s jewellery during prayer ritual at Blacktown

A man who swiped $150,000 worth of jewellery from a western Sydney woman during a ritual prayer has pleaded guilty after using a coconut to conceal the theft.

Singh has pleaded guilty to stealing a woman's jewellery. Picture: Tileah Dobson

A man who scammed a Blacktown woman out of $150,000 worth of jewellery during a prayer ritual has pleaded guilty.

Indian national Gursewak Singh, 25, faced Blacktown Local Court on Monday, when he pleaded guilty to dishonestly obtain property by deception.

Documents tendered to the court state on January 9, Singh met the victim in Darling Harbour and introduced himself as a saint from the Indian Highlands of Haridwar.

The two struck up a long conversation, chatting on topics such as religion and humanity, with the pair swapping phone numbers at the end.

For over three weeks, the pair maintained regular contact and would often meet at Darling Harbour or Blacktown to discuss the same topics for hours on end.

During these meetings, Singh and the woman would complete Puja, which is a form of a ritual prayer showing reverence to the gods and involved a small fire, fruits and sometimes, the victim’s personal belongings.

These personal items were something the woman wished to be blessed and involved the woman closing her eyes while some chanting occurred.

Singh has pleaded guilty to stealing the woman's jewellery. Picture: Tileah Dobson

In early February, Singh had advised the woman she would need to put down more than the $20,000 worth jewellery she had already offered to be blessed.

The woman retrieved about $130,000 worth of gold and diamond jewellery and brought it with her the next day to be blessed in a pouch.

Singh went to her house and during the ritual, where the woman kept her eyes closed for an hour and a half.

While her eyes were shut, Singh used a coconut he had brought with him, placed it on the top of her pouch containing the jewellery and replaced the valuables with empty boxes and a pouch.

When the ritual was done, Singh put the empty boxes and pouch in the woman’s room, the pair ate dinner, talked at a nearby park before the woman dropped him off at the train station.

However, the woman realised her jewellery was stolen by 7pm that night and filed a police report the next morning.

Police accompanied the woman to the park near the International Convention Centre in Darling Harbour, where she was due to meet with Singh again.

When police approached Singh at the park, the Indian national admitted to stealing her jewellery and where to find them at his unit on Elizabeth St.

He was arrested and taken to the Day Street Police Station, with officers seizing two mobile phones and his passport.

Police later went to Singh’s unit, recovering the jewellery from a large black suitcase.

He faced Blacktown Local Court on Monday, when he pleaded guilty to the charge, with his lawyer telling the court they were planning to file a Section 14 application.

A Section 14 of the Mental Health and Cognitive Impairment Forensic Provisions Act 2020 would allow a local court to divert a defendant with certain psychological or cognitive conditions out of the criminal justice system.

Singh, who was meant to return to India on February 6, remains on bail and will return to the same court on March 10.