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A teenager who witnessed the stabbing incident of Nitin Garg, was sentenced to 18 months probation by an Australian Court. Garg was killed earlier this year in January and this had strained the relations between India and Australia.

The 16-year-old boy, who has not been named for legal reasons, pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court to being an accessory to the murder of 21-year-old Garg in Cruickshank Park on January 2, according to The Age.

The court heard Garg was on his way to work at a nearby Hungry Jack’s outlet when the two boys, both aged 15 at the time, noticed him walking past while speaking on his mobile phone.

The prosecution said the accused told his friend “that bloke’s phone looks nice,” which prompted him to allegedly approach Garg and stab him in the abdomen.

Days after Garg’s murder, police interviewed the boy who did not say anything about the incident.

However, later during another interview on April 26, the accused changed his story and told police he and his co-accused were in the Yarraville park on the night of the stabbing.

His co-accused, also a 16-year-old boy, has already been charged with murder and is due to face a committal hearing in February.

Phone records showed Garg tried to ring 000 for help immediately after he was stabbed but the accused yelled at him to “drop the phone” because he was scared he was calling the police.

In April, the boy told a friend’s father “he was going to tell him something he had never told anyone before” and admitted to being present during Garg’s stabbing.

The court heard that the man contacted police with the information.

Court documents reveal he was an accessory after the fact by demanding that Garg dispose of his own mobile phone.
 
The boy then agreed to wear a listening device to record a conversation with his co-accused in which the alleged murderer incriminated himself.

The prosecution described the boy’s co-operation as significant and said that a non-custodial sentence was an option for the court.

Justice Paul Coghlan said the crime was serious but the boy’s undertaking to give evidence against his co-accused meant the probation sentence was warranted.

Coghlan said if the teenager had not pleaded guilty and not agreed to assist the prosecution of his co-accused, the 16-year-old would have spent two years in a youth justice centre.

Ravi Matah

MELBOURNE: A 16-year-old boy from Melbourne on Friday pleaded guilty in a children’s court for his involvement in the stabbing of Indian student Nitin Garg, who died in January.

News of Nitin Garg’s death had shook the nation as this was the first racial related death reported in Australia.

The teenager, whose name has not been revealed, has been charged with committing a robbery by stealing Garg’s mobile phone and making a false statement to police in which he denied that his friend had killed the Indian.

The young boy pleaded guilty in a children’s court on Friday. (more…)

Arrest of suspect by Victorian police in relation to death of an Indian national 

The Ministry of External Affairs New Delhi has stated that a teen has been arrested in the murder of Nitin Garg, 21, who was stabbed on the night of January 2 in Melbourne.

A 21 year old Indian national Nitin Garg, was found dead in West Footscray, Melbourne on 2nd January 2010.

The Victorian State Government authorities have informed the Consulate General of India, Melbourne that a 15 year old boy was arrested today, by the Victorian Police, in relation to the death of the late Nitin Garg. He is expected to be charged with one count of murder and would be produced in the Children’s Court today. (more…)

Melbourne.  Despite various assurances given by the Australian government, the attacks on Indians go on unabated. Two more Indian youth, including a taxi driver, have been attacked which takes the total to seven attacks in a week. A 25 year old youth was attacked and looted in the Macgregor area of South Brisbane while talking on a phone and his purse was snatched.

Students or taxi drivers of Indian origin have found themselves being targeted in both Melbourne and Sydney, sparking allegations of widespread racism in Australian society and a failure by the law enforcement authorities to act.

Australian envoy to India Peter Varghese admits that the continuing attacks on Indian nationals in his country have the “potential to impact on the broader relationship” between the two sides. (more…)

A 21-year-old Indian youth with permanent residency in Australia was fatally stabbed in the abdomen by unidentified assailants in Melbourne on Sunday while on his way to work, the first death in a series of vicious attacks on the members of Indian community.

Nitin Garg was stabbed to death in Melbourne on Saturday. As per TV news reports, he was taken to Royal Melbourne Hospital where he  died later.

He was a part time employee in Hungry Jack’s restaurant.  Garg, had migrated from Punjab and was attacked in a park while he was walking towards the restaurant.

He staggered for nearly 300 meters into the restaurant on the corner of Somerville Road and Geelong Road, West Footscray, about 10 pm local time last night and pleaded for help before collapsing. (more…)