Judge Tini Clark has reserved her decision about media using a photo of Hamilton Uber driver Satwinder Singh whom she jailed for seven years and two months for the rape and indecent assault of a 17-year-old customer in February 2023. Photo / Belinda Feek
Judge Tini Clark has reserved her decision about media using a photo of Hamilton Uber driver Satwinder Singh whom she jailed for seven years and two months for the rape and indecent assault of a 17-year-old customer in February 2023. Photo / Belinda Feek
An Uber driver convicted of raping a teen passenger has a “distorted view” of New Zealand women, whom he says are “forward and promiscuous”.
Satwinder Singh only had to drive the 17-year-old victim 7km across the Waikato River in central Hamilton, but instead turned off his GPS and headed downa side street to rape her.
Judge Tini Clark earlier found Singh, 37, guilty on all four charges he faced; three of indecent assault and one of rape, after the incident in February 2023.
His defence counsel, Nadine Baier, accepted she had no grounds to oppose name suppression.
However, she did successfully, albeit on an interim basis, fight NZME’s bid to publish his photo on the grounds that a close relative was suffering from mental health issues.
Judge Clark agreed to suppress his photo to allow the defence time to file an affidavit giving more information about the relative’s mental health strain.
‘Put her seat in the recline position’
On February 11, 2023, the victim booked an Uber from the Speight’s Ale House to a Hamilton East house to meet up with friends.
There was initially some confusion about the pick-up point, and Singh initially went to the drop-off point before heading to the pub.
In what should have been a trip that took a matter of minutes, Singh instead turned off his GPS as he neared the destination and drove her to Peachgrove Rd.
Judge Clark found that his sexual interest in the victim was “piqued” immediately after asking the victim if she was wearing any underwear after her dress rode up her legs.
He then began touching and rubbing her thigh, despite the victim telling him, “no, can you not?”, and later, “get off me”.
He then made the “deliberate decision” to turn off the GPS, which gave the impression that his trip had been successfully completed.
However, his vehicle was spotted by cameras travelling toward Peachgrove Rd.
It was then that he locked the car doors, reached over and put the woman’s seat in the recline position, before kissing her and touching her breasts.
He then climbed on top of her and raped her, which the victim described as “very rough and very hurtful”.
He then dropped her off at her friend’s house in a “distressed state”. She immediately called police.
Judge Clark rejected Singh’s defence submissions at trial that the sexual activity was either consensual, didn’t happen at all, or that he had rejected her advances.
The rape had a “significant” impact on the victim, the judge said.
In her victim impact statement, the victim recalled that on the night, she was excited to be leaving the pub and meeting up with friends.
Her friends were also excited and were waiting out on the street for her to turn up.
“This was a life-changing event,” the judge said.
A blurred image of Satwinder Singh in the dock of the Hamilton District Court this morning. Photo / Belinda Feek
“The victim should now be poised to leave home, attend university, and instead, what I have read about is that she simply cannot do so because this event has made her feel like a completely different person.”
She now lives with her parents and doesn’t like leaving their property for too long, and the outside world now “feels unsafe and threatening”.
Being under the male gaze also makes her feel exposed and angry, while she has an “overwhelming rage inside of her”, which was only exacerbated by the trial process.
The judge felt that by defending the charges at trial, Singh was “trying to lie his way out of it”, which had only added to the hurt that he’d already caused.
‘Prison would place an undue hardship on him’
Baier pushed for a hardship discount, saying that he would find jail harder as he was a Sikh Indian who had only lived in the country for 11 years.
“He, as you will see, is a follower of the Sikh religion, so prison would place a hardship on him as opposed to someone who was born and raised in New Zealand.”
He had also largely resided in a local Indian community.
However, the judge wasn’t convinced, citing the fact he was an Uber driver in New Zealand.
If dispensation was granted, anyone who had English as a second language would then ask “for some sort of special credit”.
Baier said she couldn’t push her argument any further other than to say prison would be “disproportionately severe on him”.
‘There’s an expectation Uber drivers are vetted’
Judge Clark struggled to grasp the defence position, asking her to give discounts for his background factors, and yet still denying doing anything wrong.
However, she did, to some extent, accept Singh’s upbringing “may well have created in him a level of distorted thinking about how New Zealand women behave”.
“This is, of course, no criticism of the victim, but perhaps how he behaves towards women ... and that can be traced back to his unfortunate upbringing.”
While the victim had been drinking, she was entitled to be taken safely to her friend’s house.
Judge Clark found several aggravating features, including a breach of trust, given he was an Uber driver.
“I’m not sure what the vetting is for an Uber driver ... but there’s an expectation on behalf of customers and the general public that drivers of such vehicles are people that you are safe with.
“And clearly, on this occasion, [the victim] was not safe from Mr Singh.”
After taking an eight-year jail starting point, she allowed discounts totalling 10% for his previous good character and his upbringing.
She jailed Singh for seven years and two months.
As for his photo, Judge Clark said she was currently inclined to grant media permission to print it, given he didn’t have name suppression and those who knew him likely already knew about his offending.
