Drunk driver Surinder Singh who tried to pin the blame for fatal Newcastle accident on his dead friend Jujhar Singh is jailed
A drunk driver who tried to blame his dead friend for a horrific car crash has been jailed for more than three years.
Surinder Singh, 32, drove to a bottle shop in Newcastle with his roommate and friend, Jujhar Singh, 27, on the night of November 5, 2022 while three times over the legal blood alcohol limit.
Surinder drove erratically through traffic, reaching speeds of up to 80mph on the Main Road at Tighes Hill.
Just eight seconds after Surinder sped past a random breath testing station, his sedan sped off Maitland Rd at Tighes Hill and crashed into a utility pole outside the Royal Oak Hotel.
The impact of the collision split the car in two and Jujhar, who was sitting in the passenger seat, was thrown from the wreckage.
Surinder Singh has been sentenced to several years behind bars for killing his ‘best friend’ in a horror car crash (pictured) and then telling officers it was his friend’s fault
The Newcastle University student suffered multiple fatal injuries but as he lay dying on the road, Surinder tried to blame his friend for the accident.
Surinder suffered only minor injuries in the crash and managed to free himself from the vehicle.
He told paramedics and witnesses at the scene: ‘I begged him not to drive because he had had a few drinks.’
The driver added to the lie in later interviews with investigators.
“I told him not to drive,” he told police Newcastle Herald reported.
“It’s not important enough to leave the house, but he said we needed food.”
‘I told him, “No, we’re drunk, we can’t go” … and he told me to come with him and I got in the passenger seat.’
Surinder went so far as to tell officers that he had begged Jujhar before the crash to stop speeding.
However, police gathered evidence that clearly showed that the passenger side of the vehicle bore the brunt of the damage.
Once informed that there was no way he could have suffered minor injuries as a passenger, Surinder admitted to getting behind the wheel to go buy a vape after drinking a bottle of whiskey with Jujhar.
Judge Ian Bourke found on Friday that Surinder’s lies indicated he was aware he was too drunk to drive but chose to get behind the wheel anyway.
Although Surinder now claims to feel immense guilt over the crash, he told a psychologist that he “panicked” when he saw the RBT because of a history of police brutality and oppression in his home country, India.
“I do not accept the suggestion that the crash was due to or contributed to by the offender observing an RBT unit,” Judge Bourke said.
‘I am satisfied that it was the product of his choice to drive knowing he was under the influence of alcohol and the manner and speed at which he was driving.’
Judge Bourke ruled that Surinder’s decision was ‘a relatively spontaneous and unplanned decision’ which led to a ‘very serious form’ of aggravated dangerous driving.
Surinder told a psychologist he “panicked” when he saw a random breath testing station due to a history of police oppression in his home country, India (stock image from RBT unit)
He added that by lying and blaming Jujhar, Surinder had “disgraced the name of the deceased.”
Surinder pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving causing death and received a 25 percent reduction in his sentence of up to six years in prison.
He will not be eligible for parole until September 5, 2026 after being imposed a non-parole period of three years and ten months.