JOIN USGursewak, who lived in the same house as the three-old boy Gurshan Singh Channa and his parents from Punjab, has been charged with manslaughter due to criminal negligence and appeared in an out-of-sessions hearing at St Kilda Road police complex on Sunday, local media reports said.
Police said Gursewak was not a relative of the toddler though they lived in the same house.
Gursewak “placed the child in the boot of his car unconscious but still alive,” Ron Iddles, Senior Sergeant of the homicide squad, said.
“He (Gursewak) then drove up to at least three hours with the child in the boot of the car, eventually stopping at Oaklands Junction, where he placed the child from the boot into the grass and did not check to see if the child was alive, then returned to 28 David Street, Lalor,” Iddles said.
Gursewak was refused bail and will reappear in the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Gursewak, appeared before the hearing dressed in a white polo shirt, black tracksuit pants and brown thongs and was calm throughout the hearing.
He referred to the toddler as “the kid... the kid that died” when asked who lived with him at the David Street address.
Gursewak, who was due to start full-time work with a courier company on Wednesday, has a daughter living in India. He applied for bail, offering to leave his passport and driver’s licence, saying that he could stay at the Mill Park house where he was arrested.
Iddles said police had spoken with the Gursewak’s friend and were told that “because of the events that transpired today he is no longer welcome there.”
Gursewak then gave the phone number of another friend, a man living in nearby Epping, with whom he plays cricket. He said his friend would be happy to take him in as long as the media was kept away from the man’s house. The police found the number to be out of service.
First bail Justice Ben Czerniewicz then remanded Dhillon in custody amid concerns that he posed an unacceptable flight risk and could also tamper with witnesses in the case.