Gurshan death: Indian pleaded guilty

Melbourne, 7 Sep: Indian national Gursewak Dhillon, accused in the death of three-year-old Gurshan Singh Channa, today pleaded guilty in a court here.

23-year-old Dhillon, who was living with the toddler and his parents pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates' court, according to a report in the Herald Sun.

Standing before magistrate Peter Reardon, Dhillon said, "I'm guilty, your honour", in response to a charge of manslaughter. Dhillon has been charged with manslaughter by criminal negligence.

The toddler went missing on 4 March this year when his mother was taking shower at their Lalor home. His body was found by a council worker near Melbourne Airport, six hours after he disappeared.

According to police, Dhillon had put the unconscious Channa in the boot of a car and drove around for three hours and he then dumped him on the side of a road without checking if he was alive.

Earlier, Dhillon had admitted disposing of Gurshan's body but denied deliberately injuring him. He told police that the boy was accidentally knocked unconscious when he ran into a door at the home he shared with victim's parents.

But documents released by the court show that Dhillon knocked Gurshan unconscious while moving around the house. The documents also revealed that Gurhsan had been feeling "weak" and had not been eating properly in the days before his death.

Dhillon's wife Simarjeet Kaur heard Gurshan fall to the ground with a loud bang and saw her husband hold the boy, the documents revealed. She asked what had happened and he replied that Gurshan fell and it was his fault.

When his wife said that she would get Gurshan's mother, who was in the shower, Dhillon told her not to, and instead to get his keys from the bedroom. He then put the boy in the boot of the car and drove around for three hours, dumping the boy on the side of the road before returning home.

Dhillon said he drove around aimlessly for at least three hours trying to decide what to do. He said he intended to driving to a surgery or hospital but panicked, fearing authorities would find he had entered Australia under a false name and so would face deportation.

"I was afraid that if I call the ambulance, then I will be in the court and I have to go to the police and that's why I was so much afraid," he said.

He denied that his wife told him to take Gurshan to hospital: "That's talking dumb," Dhillon said.

A forensic report found that temperature in the boot would have risen to 47 degrees by the afternoon.

Police were told he ran out of fuel, left the car with the child still in the boot, flagged a lift from a passing motorist, bought petrol and returned later.

A post-mortem examination on the child found slight bruising consistent with a minor knock to the head, but failed to find a cause of death.

Gurshan's mother Harpreet Channa told police that on the day he died he had not eaten and only drank milk.

"He was feeling a bit weak these days and he was not eating anything properly," she said.

Dhillon did not apply for bail today and was remanded in custody to appear at the Supreme Court on 21 September.
 

(PTI)