THE wife of a man who has admitted killing a three-year-old boy this year lied to the child's mother about her husband's involvement in the crime.
As Gursewak Dhillon started his three-hour drive with Gurshan Singh Channa in the car boot on March 4, his wife Simarjeet Kaur, 24, asked the boy's mother if her son was with her, before leading her on a search of the house.
Dhillon - whom his wife described as a ''quite angry person'' - pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court yesterday to one count of manslaughter by criminal negligence.
The boy fell after Dhillon, 27, accidentally knocked him to the floor of the Lalor home. Dhillon put him in the boot of his car and drove around for three hours before dumping the boy on the side of the road near Melbourne Airport.
But despite having completed first aid training in a security course, Dhillon did not do what his wife believed he would and take the child to hospital. He feared entry to Australia on another passport would be found out.
Ms Kaur said in her statement: ''The next day … [Dhillon] said the baby was still alive when he put him in the boot because he saw his eyes blinking. He said he was still alive when he put him in the grass because he saw his eyes moving, but his body wasn't moving.
''He said he thought he should take him to hospital, but felt insecure about the questions he would be asked. He thought if he left the baby alive and someone else found him and took him to hospital, it would be better''.
But when City West Water contractor Leigh Fullarton found Gurshan about 6.20pm, it was too late for him to be saved.
An autopsy report found that interpretation of the abrasions on Gurshan's head and face had been complicated by the presence of ants that covered his body.
Forensic pathologist Melissa Baker could not determine a cause of death and said that ''the injuries present are not sufficient to explain death and would not obviously lead to unconsciousness, however this cannot be excluded''.
The Sydney Morning Herald
