Wife recorded murder fears hours before death

In the hours before a woman’s body was found with catastrophic injuries near a tractor, she recorded a video saying she feared her husband would murder her, a judge has heard.

Yadwinder Singh, 44, was charged with the murder of his wife, Amarjit Kaur Sardar, 41, and interfering with a corpse after emergency services were called to the couple’s farmland property at Woodhill, south of Brisbane, at 9.15am on February 15, 2024.

Singh applied for bail in Brisbane Supreme Court on Tuesday and Justice Catherine Muir questioned his solicitor, Andrew Bale, about the prosecution’s evidence.

Queensland police transport the accused, Yadwinder Singh, to the Beenleigh watchhouse.Credit: Nine

“There are the recordings of the wife on the morning she died about her concern that her husband was trying to kill her,” Muir said.

Bale said there had been issues in the relationship for some time.

“[Singh] had an appointment about eight days prior with a psychologist seeking assistance for the deceased because of her erratic behaviour,” Bale said.

Muir asked Bale if he would accept Singh had a history of domestic violence.

“I don’t know whether there would be evidence of actual physical violence, but there was certainly evidence of controlling-type behaviour,” Bale said.

Muir said the prosecution alleged to have found a number of recordings on Sardar’s phone.

“A recording the day that she died captured [Singh] in the background and [Sardar] suggesting that if she was murdered, [Singh] is responsible,” Muir said.

The prosecution has alleged Sardar was found with both her legs amputated two metres away from the tractor’s vegetation-slashing attachment, and was declared dead at the scene.

Investigators assess the scene of Amarjit Kaur Sardar’s death on a property at Woodhill, south of Brisbane, this year.Credit: Nine

Bale said any suggestion that Singh had a motive to kill Sardar was pure speculation.

“The statement made by [Singh] when emergency services arrived was that this was an accident. Of course, that would provide him with a defence,” Bale said.

Crown prosecutor Samantha O’Rourke said the medical evidence was inconsistent with a claim of accidental death.

“A brick was located within 45 metres of the scene with hair consistent with [Sardar’s] contained on it. There is medical evidence [the cause of death] was consistent with blunt force injuries, and not a mower mechanism,” O’Rourke said.

Bale said there was no evidence to support a prosecution claim that Singh had hit Sardar in the head with the brick then thrown it across a fence.

O’Rourke said Sardar sent Singh an email before her death saying she was ending the relationship and wanted a share of their property.

Singh emigrated from India in 2005 and became an Australian citizen in 2008, but Muir said he still retained strong ties to the country of his birth, where almost all his family members resided.

“I’m not satisfied any of the bail conditions proposed could sufficiently ameliorate the risk of [Singh] absconding,” she said

Muir said the crown case appeared reasonably strong, and she denied bail.

AAP

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