Auckland man Kuljinder Singh caught in Hamilton Snapchat sexual hook-up with teen girl

Auckland man Kuljinder Singh met up with two teens after messaging on Snapchat. Photo / 123rf

A married man used a photo he took of a 13-year-old girl while the two were engaged in a sexual act to try to prove she was consenting and that she did not look as young as she was.

Kuljinder Singh, of Auckland, met the young teen on Snapchat, and after messaging, arranged to meet in Hamilton on June 11 last year.

He picked her and her 14-year-old friend up at a dairy and went to a house.

The victim’s friend encouraged her to engage in a sexual act with Singh, which she consented to.

Singh, 39, then asked the victim if she wanted sexual intercourse, to which she said no.

The older teen then asked Singh if he wanted to know their true ages.

It was then that he realised they were younger than he had thought, and he got scared, quickly gathered his belongings, and left the property.

Singh was later charged with sexual connection with a young person, for which he was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court this week.

In trying to keep his client out of prison, Singh’s counsel, Philip Morgan, KC, said photos of the victim showed she looked older than 13, “unquestionably so”, he told Judge Stephen Clark.

Morgan said the case centred on one single sexual act, performed by Singh, who believed “wrongly and foolishly that he was with somebody older than she was”.

Kuljinder Singh was sentenced in Hamilton District Court.

“Who then stopped when he had this question about whether he wanted to know how old they were,” Morgan submitted.

While the older girl took a photo of Singh during the act, Singh had taken a photo of the victim around the same time, which Morgan said proved that she was a willing participant.

Judge Clark said he had not looked at the photos but asked Morgan if the victim looked older than 13.

“Unquestionably, so,” Morgan replied.

“I’m not necessarily the best judge of these things, but this complainant did not have the physique of a 13-year-old or certainly what I think the general public would think of as a 13-year-old.

“And the facial expressions were anything but evidencing reluctance or discomfort.”

‘It will stay with me’

In court, the victim said through her impact statement that she had been left traumatised by the incident.

“There are times it replays in my mind,” she said.

“It’s like I don’t get a choice to move on, even when I try.

“It follows me into quiet moments, into my thoughts ... It will stay with me for a long time.”

In his submissions, Morgan said Singh was deeply remorseful.

He said Singh was a man of good character, had no previous convictions, and brought to court letters of support from his wife and members of the Sikh community.

He had also had nine sessions with a psychotherapist and planned on continuing with therapy.

Morgan urged Judge Clark to hand down a sentence of home detention, describing the offending as a “one-off instance” with somebody who was not groomed and “genuinely consenting”.

Morgan said Singh’s crime was that “he didn’t make any enquiry at all as to how old [the victim] was”.

Asked about his ability to pay reparation, Morgan said his client’s financial position was “alarming”, even though Singh and his wife both worked.

However, they would try to pull together $2000 over the next three months, the court was told.

‘You have a lot of work to do’

Judge Clark noted that at the time of the offending, Singh was in a state of “heightened financial stress”.

He’d withdrawn from his usual sports and instead was “engaging with people on social media, namely Snapchat”.

The offending had impacted Singh’s marriage, but his wife had stood by him.

“She seriously thought about leaving you, and you have a lot of work to do to rebuild her trust in you,” the judge remarked.

Singh had told a pre-sentence report writer that he wasn’t attracted to young girls and didn’t realise the victim’s age.

He had since been doing voluntary work at a yacht club and had been upfront with them about his offending.

Given Singh’s rehabilitative work and the supportive network he continued to have, Judge Clark felt he could reach a sentence of home detention.

After adopting a starting point of three years’ imprisonment, and applying discounts for Singh’s plea, remorse, and good character, the judge reached 20 months.

He then converted that to 10 months’ home detention and declined the Crown’s request to add Singh’s name to the child sex offender register.

Judge Clark also ordered Singh to pay a $2000 emotional harm payment within 90 days.

Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.