Gurpreet Singh charged over hit-and-run which killed Nepalese grandfather in Melonba

The driver accused of a ‘callous’ hit-and-run, in which a beloved grandfather was allegedly left dying on the side of the road, has been bailed after a court heard he wasn’t aware there had been an accident.

The man charged over a fatal hit-and-run, in which a grandfather was allegedly left to die after being struck on a suburban street has been granted bail.

Gurpreet Singh, 38 of Melonba faced Downing Centre Local Court after being charged with fail to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, dangerous driving occasioning death – drive manner dangerous, negligent driving occasioning death and not give particulars to police.

The father and business owner was arrested at Sydney airport at around 11.30am on Wednesday morning, after coming off an international flight from India.

Police will allege Singh is responsible for a fatal collision, which took the life of 79-year-old Damodar Shrestha in Sydney’s west on June 30.

Police have named Damodar Shrestha, 79 from Nepal as the victim of a hit and run on Abell Rd, Melonba.

Emergency services were called to Abell Rd in Melonba at around 11.20pm where they treated the injured grandfather, who died at the scene.

Mr Shrestha, a Nepal national and “loving grandfather”, was visiting his daughter’s family and had gone for a walk after dinner when he was allegedly struck by a purple coupe being driven by Singh who then took off.

On Thursday, the court heard that shortly following the alleged crash, Singh continued driving to Seven Hills where he swapped his car for a van.

The police prosecutor said bail was opposed on the grounds of community safety and Singh posing a potential flight risk.

“A man willing to drive off after having hit a member of the community and not rendering aid is just a danger to the community in general,” he said.

Solicitor Mario Licha said Singh had swapped cars because he “had to drive to Newcastle for work the next morning” and was not aware that he’d hit and killed a person, which explained his “bizarre behaviour”.

Police release stills from CCTV of the alleged incident.

“He’s either the most callous person in the world who keeps driving and doing his job or he genuinely didn’t know he hit someone,” Mr Licha said.

“If he thought he had hit someone he would have done what you'd expect one to do. There’s no doubt this is a very tragic set of circumstances.”

Mr Licha also said that Singh had flown to India to visit a sick relative but “returned immediately” upon learning he was being sought by police.

After a lengthy set of submissions, Deputy Chief Magistrate Sharon Freund chose to grant Singh bail, deeming him not to be a flight risk but imposed a condition to stop him from getting into the driver's seat of any vehicle.

As part of his bail Singh must report daily to Riverstone police station, surrender his passport and not enter any international airport or point of departure.

He will return to court on September 3.