By: Gurbir Singh (Hamilton, New Zealand),November 1, 2017
Nearly four years after 32-years-old Parwinder Kaur died from burns outside her home in Sydney, Australia, the NSW police arrested her 37-year-old husband, Kulwinder Singh, today morning at his Rouse Hill home for questioning.
According to the Superintendent Rob Critchlow, Commander Hills Local Area, Kulwinder has been detained at Castle Hill Police Station and assisting the police with their inquiries.
He will be produced before the Parramatta Magistrate's Court later today and will be charged with one count of murder.
It was on December 2, 2013 when residents of Greensborough Avenue, Rouse Hill found Parwinder, doused in petrol and engulfed in flames running and screaming in the front lawn of her home.
Kulwinder, her husband, was also screaming loudly, as he tried to put out the flames with his hands. Neighbours also recalled him saying, "Fire, fire. I didn't do it, I'm a good man."
Parwinder had burns to 90 per cent of her body. She was airlifted to hospital but could not be saved, and died next day.
Kulwinder later told police that his wife had doused herself with petrol (meant for lawnmower) and set herself alight after they had arguments about finances, and he told her he was going to move with his mother.
Shortly after their fight, Parwinder reportedly telephoned police emergency phone number, but her call was suddenly terminated. Within minutes of that, neighbours heard ‘blood curdling screams’ and found Parwinder in ‘a ball of fire”.
An inquest into her death was held in 2015, concluding that a "known person" had committed an indictable offence, thus, going against her husband’s contention that Parwinder had burnt herself.
Parwinder Kaur, born and brought up in Phirni Mazara village in Hoshiarpur district was the first child of Jagat Singh, a retired armyman, and his wife Malkeet Kaur. Once Parwinder was in college, her parents arranged her marriage with Kulwinder who was recommended through family connections who had known him.
She married Kulwinder in July 2005 and moved to Sydney next year with great hopes in her heart, not knowing that her life would have a fiery-end seven years later.
In the media conference this morning, Superintendent Rob Critchlow said Parwinder's family has expressed "an overwhelming sense of relief".
“it was a very complex investigation (as) there were no third-party witnesses to the matter and we relied heavily on the specialist analysis of the evidence. It was a dogged pursuit of truth”, he said.
-----
Gurbir Singh is a freelance Feature Writer & Journalist,based in New Zealand. You can contact him at: gurbir@journalist.com