Father Simranjeet Singh with his wife Sumeet Sumeet and 2-year-old son Agambir Singh Dhanju, who were in a fatal crash last December.
Father Simranjeet Singh with his wife Sumeet Sumeet and 2-year-old son Agambir Singh Dhanju, who were in a fatal crash last December.
Simranjeet Singh says he has no memory of the crash he caused that killed his wife and 2-year-old son.
But he’s been tortured every day since by the memory of what he’s lost.
“Every morning starts with grief and every evening ends with it,” Singh said in a report providedto the judge for his sentencing in Auckland District Court yesterday.
During a trip from Wellington to Auckland on December 29, 2024, Singh’s vehicle crossed the centre line and crashed head-on with a van in Mangaweka.
His surviving daughter, Baanee Kaur, suffered intensive internal injuries in the crash and had to spend four months wearing a spinal device to help her recover.
Singh pleaded guilty to two charges of careless driving causing death and two further charges of careless driving causing injury.
He appeared in court with his friends and cousins gathered in the public gallery to support him.
Judge Debra Bell acknowledged the “profound and tragic” consequences of the crash, which resulted in the deaths of 38-year-old Sumeet Sumeet and toddler Agambir Singh Dhanju.
“Nothing I can say further is going to bring back your wife and son, I wish it could,” she told Singh in court.
Simranjeet Singh and his family were in a fatal crash on State Highway 1.
As Singh was driving north towards Auckland, he approached a passing lane on State Highway 1 at Mangaweka with a speed limit of 100km/h. His vehicle then crossed over into the southbound lane of oncoming traffic.
Two other vehicles had to swerve out of the way of Singh’s car, with one vehicle’s side wing mirror clipping the edge of his car.
He then crashed head-on into a van, whose driver suffered broken bones after being crushed into the front of his vehicle.
The driver of the van chose not to seek financial reparation from Singh because of the “enormous loss” he had already suffered from the deaths of his wife and son.
Defence lawyer Dale Dufty said Singh had no memory of the accident but that two crash witnesses had seen him driving normally before his vehicle drifted into the other lane.
Dufty said it appeared “he may have fallen asleep”.
The police prosecutor acknowledged that Singh was of “very good character” and had no previous convictions with an unblemished driving record.
However, the prosecutor asked that the judge order Singh to pay some emotional reparation to the driver of the van, who was badly injured.
Singh himself suffered a broken nose and severe bruising in the crash.
All of the passengers in Singh’s vehicle were wearing seatbelts, with his son strapped into a baby car seat.
Judge Bell sentenced Singh to 18 months of intensive supervision, 12 months of disqualification from driving and to pay a reparation payment of $2500 to the driver of the van.
She acknowledged that if Singh was made to do community work hours it would have an effect on his daughter’s life.
Judge Bell said the consequences of that brief moment had been “tragically catastrophic” for Singh, and that driver fatigue had not been a factor because of his rest stop in Bulls 45 minutes before the crash.
When Judge Bell considered the mitigating factors and Singh’s remorse, she found there had already been “significant consequences for you and your family”.
She said character submissions had been made that spoke of Singh’s “kindness, reliability and integrity”.
He was deeply devoted to his family and had continued to support and care for his daughter in the wake of the accident.
In 2022, Singh immigrated to New Zealand from India and began working as a software developer.
His wife and two children had subsequently moved over to join him, and in his marriage to Sumeet there had been full of “warmth and a lot of laughter”.
Their holiday to the Nelson region in December 2024 was meant to be a joyful reunion for the family after time apart but ended in a fatal car crash.
Following the crash, Singh wished to stay in New Zealand with his daughter as she loved her new home.
The police prosecutor did not offer a different reason for why Singh had crossed the centre line.
He said the gravity of the offending was high because of the multiple casualties and the fact another motorist had to take evasive actions to avoid a collision.
Judge Bell said there was no evidence that Singh was driving in an inappropriate manner before the accident.
A Givealittle page had been created for Singh to support him as he continued to rebuild his life and care for his daughter’s wellbeing.
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