An Uber driver who assaulted a 17-year-old passenger after steering away from her intended route has been jailed for seven years and two months, with the judge criticising his “distorted view” of New Zealand women.
Satwinder Singh, 37, was sentenced in the Hamilton District Court on Wednesday after being found guilty of three charges of indecent assault and one charge of rape relating to an incident in February 2023.
As per NZ Herald, the court heard the teenager had booked a short late-night ride from Speight’s Ale House to an address in Hamilton East. Instead of completing the straightforward seven-kilometre journey, Singh turned off his GPS near the destination and diverted to Peachgrove Rd.
Judge Tini Clark said Singh’s behaviour escalated after he asked the teen if she was wearing underwear when her dress shifted. The victim repeatedly told him, “no, can you not?” and later, “get off me”. Judge Clark found he then made a deliberate choice to continue the unwanted contact.
CCTV footage later placed his car travelling away from the correct route. The teen was eventually dropped at her friend’s home in a distressed condition and phoned police immediately.
Judge Clark rejected Singh’s claims that the events were consensual or fabricated. She said he had attempted to “lie his way out of it”, worsening the harm caused to the young woman.
In her victim impact statement, the teenager said she had been looking forward to meeting friends that night, but the attack had “changed” her NZ Herald reported.
Judge Clark said the incident had had a “significant” effect on her life, leaving her fearful of being away from home and feeling that the outside world was now “unsafe and threatening”. She also lives with “an overwhelming rage inside of her”, intensified by the court process.
According to NZ Herald, defence counsel Nadine Baier sought a hardship discount, arguing Singh would face additional challenges in custody because he was a Sikh Indian who had lived in New Zealand for only 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.”
Judge Clark declined the request, noting he had worked as an Uber driver interacting widely with the New Zealand public. Allowing such a discount, she said, could set a precedent for “anyone who had English as a second language” to claim special treatment.
However, she accepted that aspects of Singh’s upbringing “may well have created in him a level of distorted thinking about how New Zealand women behave”, though she emphasised this did not reflect on the victim.
She also highlighted the breach of trust involved in the offending.
“There’s an expectation Uber drivers are vetted … and clearly, on this occasion, [the victim] was not safe from Mr Singh.”
Starting from an eight-year sentencing benchmark and applying a 10 per cent discount for previous good character and his background, Judge Clark imposed a final sentence of seven years and two months.
Singh did not seek name suppression, but Baier secured interim suppression of his photograph due to concerns about the mental health of a close relative. Judge Clark said she was inclined to allow the image to be published, noting his identity was already known within his community, but granted the temporary order while the defence prepares an affidavit.
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