Indian held guilty of UK murder
Illegal immigrant stabbed former girlfriend to death
An illegal immigrant from India who carried out a frenzied knife attack on his former girlfriend in London in July 2008 after harassing her over a prolonged period, was on Wednesday found guilty of murder and faces a life sentence.
Gemma Dorman, 24, was stabbed repeatedly outside a Thai restaurant by former lover Vikramjit Singh, 25.
Dorman had been having dinner with her fiance in south-west London, when she went out to get cash.
Singh was waiting for her and attacked her at a bus shelter with a 7- inch kitchen knife, the Old Bailey court was told. Richard Whittam, prosecuting lawyer, said: “It was a brutal attack on a defenceless woman.”
Two months before the murder, Dorman had told the police that Singh was stalking her and bombarding her with hundreds of text messages.Her mother had also complained about Singh.
‘Infatuated’
The court was told that Singh was “infatuated” with Dorman and paid 200 pounds to have a large heart-shaped tattoo with her name in it on his back.
In a letter to her proclaiming his love, he reportedly wrote: “Fish can’t live without water. I can’t live without you.”
Singh claimed in court that he had given her cash totalling 2,60,000 pounds as well as gifts including jewellery and computers. He said they had planned to set up home together and get married, but she allegedly dumped him after he ran out of money.
Singh admitted the stabbing but claimed he could not remember it. He denied murder, claiming provocation, diminished responsibility, and lack of intent. But his defence was rejected by the jury, which found him guilty of murder by an 11-1 majority. He now faces a life sentence.
Before the killing, he bombarded her with text messages and letters and tattooed her name in large letters across his back. Singh, of Ruskin Road in Southall, became obsessed with Dorman while she was working for Vixens Escort Agency between July 2005 and June 2007. Singh had hired her out for his flatmate, but after a chat and a quick drink he claims the two began seeing each other as girlfriend and boyfriend. But Dorman later broke it off, saying she never wanted to see him again. After a barrage of love letters and text messages, Dorman and mother reported him to the police for harassment.
In one letter he wrote, “I can’t do without you, I love you so much. Please try to understand my feelings.”
Dorman was in the Amazing Thai restaurant with her new fiance the night she was killed, on July 31, 2008.
Giving evidence, Singh said he could not remember stabbing Dorman, but went into a trance thinking of her having sex with another men.
Troubled childhood
Singh had a troubled life. Giving evidence in court last week, he told how he was repeatedly beaten by his father during his childhood in Punjab in India. His mother was mentally ill and would often fail to recognise people. At the age of 12, he slit his wrists. When he was 16, Singh’s mother paid an agent to take him to the UK for a better life — but instead he was dumped along with 12 other boys in Moscow with no access to food. He led a Spartan life, moving into a shared room with another man and keeping his earnings in a suitcase under his bed. He never went out, and had never had sex before he met Dorman.
