Nirmal Singh: fraudster walks from court after being charges in a Queensland court for Tweed Heads crime
A man who pleaded guilty to a fraud charge was free to leave court thanks to a bizarre error. Read what happened here.
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A man who pleaded guilty to a fraud charge was free to walk from a Queensland court after his charge sheet listed his offending as occurring across the border.
Nirmal Singh, 28, pleaded guilty on Monday, July 30 at the Southport Magistrates Court to one charge of fraud – dishonestly obtain property from another.
The court heard Singh had dishonestly obtained a drill at Supercheap Auto Tweed Heads on April 9, 2025.
Singh had paid for the drill by putting it as an East Coast Car Rentals company purchase order.
On May 12, 2025, East Coast Car Rentals were advised of an invoice from Supercheap Auto and made inquiries into the purchase, leading to Singh being given a notice to appear in court on Monday.
But an error in the paperwork stopped the court proceeding, with Acting Magistrate Steve Wettenhall noting a problem in the bench charge sheet.
“The charges say on April 9, 2025 at Tweed Heads South in the state of Queensland,” he said. “That can’t be right.”
Tweed Heads is a New South Wales town.
Mr Wettenhall said he hadn’t accepted Singh’s guilty plea yet and he wouldn’t on the basis of the charge sheet.
Defence lawyer Dayne Baskerville-Hodge told the court his client had opted to proceed today.
“I’m not proceeding with a charge that is clearly incorrect which this court has no jurisdiction to deal with,” Mr Wettenhall said. “Last time I checked the criminal law is different in each state and territory.
“And it would be helpful if people who appeared before this court, checked these things.”
Mr Wettenhall striked the charge out and told Singh he was free to go.
Despite Mayor Tom Tate suggesting the Tweed move north of the border in 2020, the area is still very much part of New South Wales.
Tweed Heads is located right next to Coolangatta with the New South Wales and Queensland border separating the two towns.
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Originally published as Nirmal Singh: fraudster walks from court after being charges in a Queensland court for Tweed Heads crime
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