Akash, who previously admitted to stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death in 2016, has been found guilty for a second time. Photo / Michael Craig
Akash, who previously admitted to stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death in 2016, has been found guilty for a second time. Photo / Michael Craig
A schizophrenic security guard who admitted in 2016 to stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death has been found guilty - for the second time - of murder.
A jury at the High Court at Auckland returned the verdict today after three weeks of testimony capped by four hours of deliberation.
Lawyers for Akash, who goes by only one name, had asked that he be found not guilty by reason of insanity - a result that would have likely resulted in the 31-year-old being sent to a lockdown psychiatric facility for an indeterminate period instead of prison.
His new prison sentence is tentatively set to be determined by Justice Mathew Downs later this month.
Gurpreet Kaur, 22, was believed to be between seven and 10 weeks pregnant in April 2016 when she suffered about 30 cutting and stab wounds at the defendant's hand in a remote location in South Auckland - a fact that was not disputed at trial. It also wasn't disputed that Akash was mentally ill at the time of the killing.
Instead, Justice Downs told jurors prior to deliberations, the issue "at the very heart of the trial" was whether Akash was so unwell he didn't realise what he was doing was morally wrong - necessary for an insanity finding.
Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes pointed during his closing address on Monday to Akash's initial guilty plea and October 2016 sentencing. Akash made statements to a probation officer prior to the hearing and in a letter to the judge that suggested he knew what he had done was morally wrong, Kayes told jurors.
"I regret my wrongdoing and take full responsibility for my thoughtless actions," Akash wrote in a letter to the judge who oversaw his 2016 sentencing. "I feel utterly ashamed, guilty and disgust for what I've done.
"... I can't believe my anger led me to commit such a horrific crime, and honestly I have no words for remorse ... I know what I've done was wrong, but I had no intentions to hurt someone I loved the most. It was my anger which took my freedom, my love and my life away from me."
Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes. Photo / Michael Craig
Akash's behaviour immediately after the killing also suggests the defendant was trying to hide his actions because he knew he had done something wrong, Kayes argued. They included leaving Kaur's body in a remote location, disposing of the knife used to kill her, appearing to cover blood on his clothing then hiding his clothing under a house and lying to police repeatedly in a series of interviews.
It wasn't until 13 months after the killing - after he had already pleaded guilty - that Akash first told a mental health worker he thought Kaur had been involved in a conspiracy to harm him, Kayes told jurors.
"The evidence is clear his account has changed significantly over time," Kayes said. "You have to put Mr Akash's evidence, as told to various people, to one side. It's simply not reliable."
What was clear, he said, was that the couple had a volatile relationship and that Akash had previously admitted to jealousy.
But defence lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade, QC, asked jurors to look at the whole picture rather than focusing just on his sentencing statements or his interviews with police. It's not unusual for people who fit the legal definition of insane to later feel remorse for their actions as their mental state changes due to treatment and medication, she said.
She asked jurors to carefully consider witness statements about her client's behaviour in the days leading up to the killing, as well as Akash's own texts.
"You have got some gang person to keep an eye on me," he texted Kaur three times on April 2, less than a week before the killing.
"Are you hacking me?" he asked in the same exchange.
On the morning of the killing, two witnesses said he begged for help, explaining that he was being chased by a gang called "Singh" - the surname of Kaur's father.
Akash would eventually tell mental health workers that he thought Kaur had hacked into his GPS to lure him to a remote location and was making hand signals to gang members, prompting him to confront her with the knife.
Kincade also suggested her client's behaviour immediately after the slaying - including lying to police and hiding potential evidence - should not be given too much weight by jurors.
"It's not a question of whether Mr Akash realised he was breaking the law," she said. "We cannot immediately jump to the conclusion he knew what he was doing was morally wrong."
She gave as an example protesters who realise they're breaking the law but believe they are morally right in doing so.
She disagreed the couple's relationship was volatile. While some text messages seen by jurors showed the couple had a row, other testimony indicated they often professed their love for each other and wanted to have a child together, she said.
Kincade pointed to testimony from two psychologists - one called by the Crown and the other by the defence - that it's not uncommon for a person who is psychotic to hold two conflicting views simultaneously. Akash could have loved Kaur but also suspected her of being part of a conspiracy to harm him, she said.
At his 2016 sentencing, Akash was ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years in prison before he could become eligible for parole. Jurors at the current trial, however, were not told about the previous sentence or what would happen to Akash as a result of their verdict.
Justice Downs told jurors only that not guilty by reason of insanity is "a special verdict with its own consequences".
