Herald NOW: Daily News Update: June 23 2025. Video / Herald NOW
Security guard Ramandeep Singh had only been doing his job - trying to lock up the car park gate to Massey’s Royal Reserve - when he was violently beaten to death by a nearby resident and his teenage companion.
Neighbours could hear him calling out for help during hisfinal moments of consciousness.
Details of the murder can be reported for the first time after Lorenzo Tangira, 28, opted to plead guilty rather than begin a three-week trial today. A pool of potential jurors packed the gallery in the High Court at Auckland as the defendant entered the plea before Justice Geoffrey Venning.
Tangira had spent the night drinking at his home before wandering over to the park about 200m away with the teenager, who was found unfit to stand trial following a multi-day hearing in April.
Armourguard Security Mobile Patrol Officer, 25-year-old Ramandeep Singh, was beaten to death in Massey's Royal Reserve carpark in Auckland in December, 2023. Photo / Supplied
Court documents note that Singh, who weighed approximately 46kg, first found himself in an altercation with the teenager. Tangira quickly jumped in to join in on the attack.
“He grabbed Mr Singh by the rear of his hi-vis vest and swung him around and proceeded to forcefully punch him repeatedly in the face,” the agreed summary of facts for Tangira states.
Singh fell to the ground, bleeding from his facial injuries, before scrambling to his work car and trying to escape the scene. The teenager jumped on the bonnet, trying to stop him.
“During the pursuit of Mr Singh, Mr Tangira’s hand was shut in the door of the vehicle,” court documents state. “After this, Mr Tangira tried to reach Mr Singh through the back of the vehicle.
Lorenzo Tangira appears in the High Court at Auckland for an earlier hearing. He pleaded guilty today to having murdered security guard Ramandeep Singh in December 2023 in Massey. Photo / Jason Oxenham
“When Mr Singh was eventually pulled from the vehicle, the assault by [the teen] and Mr Tangira continued.”
He was punched, kicked and stomped on, knocking out his teeth and breaking his jaw in multiple places. His skull, cheek bones and orbital sockets sustained multiple fractures and he suffered significant brain damage, a post-mortem exam would later reveal.
“Footwear impressions showed kicking- and stomping-type damage to his face, throat and neck,” documents state.
Nearby residents heard Singh’s calls for help during the attack and alerted police. But by the time they arrived, the defendants were gone and Singh had already died.
His body had been dragged into the bushes near his vehicle. He was partially nude, his clothes having been pulled off during the struggle.
His phone and bag were missing, while his vehicle was dented, had a shattered windscreen and was stained with blood.
Security guard Ramandeep Singh, 25, was killed in Massey's Royal Reserve carpark just after midnight on December 18. Scene photo / Jason Oxenham
But the odd scene did not remain a mystery for long. Police went to Tangira’s home and arrested him a short time later.
“Police observed blood stains throughout the property, which later were identified as belonging to Mr Tangira.”
Singh’s family watched today’s trial-turned-arraignment from overseas via an audio-video feed. Tangira, wearing a white T-shirt and grey sweats, repeatedly turned around and waved to family in the gallery, who blew kisses to him.
Security officers standing next to him warned him to stop as the brief hearing got under way and Justice Venning also momentarily paused to wait for him to turn around.
A sentencing date has been set for next month.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
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