Man charged with toddler’s murder in Australia
Indian boy found dead near Melbourne Airport.
By Ravi Matah
MELBOURNE – (Update) A man who lived in the same home as slain toddler Gurshan Singh Channa has been charged with his murder.
The three-year-old boy disappeared from his David Street home on Thursday while his mother was taking a shower.
His body was found dumped near Melbourne Airport leading to false speculation among Indian media that the child was a victim of a racial crime.
However, cops now say the child was killed by someone he knew.
“Homicide Squad Detectives have tonight charged a 23-year-old man over the death of Gurshan Singh Channa, whose body was found at Oakland Junction on Thursday night,” said Victoria police.
“Gursewak Dhillon, 23, from David Street in Laylor has been charged with one count of manslaughter by criminal negligence,” said senior Const. Marty Beveridge
Dhillon, who lived in the same home but is not related to the child, faced out of session court hearing at the St. Kilda Road complex and has been denied bail.
Dhillon is to appear before a Melbourne magistrate’s court on Tuesday.
A motive for the slaying was not revealed, nor did police say how and why the boy died. Australian media quoted police as saying the accused drove around with the child body in the trunk of a car for nearly three hours and then dumped the boy.
A city council worker found the boy’s body in grass on St. John’s Road in Oakland Junction after he disappeared from his home. The body was found near Melbourne airport – some 20 kilometres from where the boy went missing from.
The Indian boy was on a three-month holiday in Australia with his parents. He vanished from a relative’s house in Lalor at about 1.10 pm on Thursday, while his mother was having a shower.
The family, which was due to leave Australia soon, told the police that Gurshan was at home playing. His mother, Harpreet Kaur, who is studying in Australia, was in the bathroom and when she came out, the security door was ajar and Gurshan gone. After a frantic search on the premises, a family member called the police.
Police had been searching for a vehicle they thought had been used the transport the child. It is believed police now have the vehicle in their possession.
“Detective Senior Sergeant Ron Iddles is asking for anyone who may have seen a vehicle in St Johns Road, anywhere between to contact police,” Victoria Police said in a statement issued on Saturday.
Police said they have not determined the cause of death yet and are awaiting results of further forensic testing.
Deputy Commissioner Sir Ken Jones urged the community to come forward with any information that could assist the police investigation.
“The death of a child is an absolute tragedy and we would like to reassure the community that we are pulling out all stops to find out exactly what has happened and if foul play was involved to bring those responsible to justice,” he said.
“We are investigating this matter as thoroughly as we possibly can and are throwing all available resources at it,” he said.
Sir Ken appealed for anyone who may have seen Gurshan or any suspicious activity in or around David Street in Lalor around midday Thursday or St John’s Road in Oakland Junction in the early evening to contact police.
Copyright 2009, Vancouverite News Service. Use this article on your blog or website for just $5. News organizations pay $25. To reproduce or distribute, click: http://vancouverite.icopyright.com
Related articles:
- Charges laid in dual random stabbings in Victoria
- Homeless woman killed in pedestrian crash in Victoria
- Victoria burglar beaten, held by homeowner
- Victoria cop suspended over jail assault
Posted by News Editor
on Mar 7 2010. Filed under Featured, World.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
This murder was a tragedy felt very deeply by the community of Melbourne as a whole. If the Indian media are so worried about the racist Australians, they would do well to instruct the hordes of Indian students attempting to come to Australia on how to open their minds when they get here. This country was formed by peaceful and happy immigration and yet even Chinese Australians ( who know only too well the hard time they recived when huge numbers immigrated), find Indians hard to deal with here. They carry on about how fantastic India is, and yet do just about anything to stay here in Australia. Indian men ogle and harrass Aussie women as their own culture is so sexually repressed. They all seem to take menial jobs which they take no pride in, and then wonder why their workmates dislike their work ethic. Most of them claim to be wealthy in India, and yet they are only too happy to help themselves to our public hospitals, cheap and quality education, public transport, and whatever else they can get for free or cheaply. The males don’t even offer their seats on trams to elderly people here, and yet they whinge and whine about how we neglect our elderly. I would be happy to bet that 60 years from now, our old peoples homes will be wall to wall with these students who have not invested in private health insurance so will expect our civilised society to care for them.
I have tried hard to be welcoming and tolerant to these people, even though they show me no respect, complain about my beloved country, abuse our rescources even though they seem to hate us. My advice to anyone coming here to study is to leave your own racism, sexism and arrogance at the border….or, of course, stay where you are. We have done just fine so far welcoming people from every country who come here looking for a good life. Dont come here with your mind closed but your hands open.
As far as the death of that beautiful little boy, very litte of how he died or why is yet to be known. We have a wonderful uncorrupt justice system that will see to it that the Indian who killed him will be punished appropriately but humanely. Perhaps those Indians should think twice before they label us racist, when the perpetrator was another Indian. This is one of several Indian on Indian violent crimes that we were blamed for without basis. Maybe this little angel has not died in vain, maybe the Indian media will think twice before it sensationalises and points the finger at us…..It should have been pointed at yourselves all along.
It’s high time for the Australian government to review its immigration policy, and change the citisenship law. What Australia needs are quality immigrants, not blue collar labors. There should also be no right of citizeship to children of foreign parents in Asstralia to discourage any one to go to Australia to give birth. Good quality immigrants, I believe, would be able to assimilate better with the Australians, and social problems would be minimized.
i m student in australia. i regard there is nothing worse than killing of a child. ever since i m here in australia working with australian community never seen any sort of racism.people always talk good about cricket and ask how is my study goin on. these things might have happen to those who do not adopt aussie culture and sticked to their own resolutions.we should nt blame whole student community if any crack head brings haterd to community. ther r crooks every where cause problems to any one.
Im from Australia and Im sick of the Indian media trying to label Australia as a racist hell hole, some Indian students said to me there government should invade Australia and kill all the aussies, My love for India has dried up and Im sick of the constant slander of Australia by all of the media
While it is true that some Indian students have been attacked in Melbourne ( mostly those victims have been working as taxi drivers or other lat-night jobs). The crimes have been more opportunistic than racist, although the Indian media shrieks racism at every turn ( most notably when a student claimed to have been set upon by 4 people and set alight…..leading the head of the Indian Association of students to claim ” now they are burning us alive”…..the reality was that te student had tried to burn his car in an insurance scam and accidentally burnt himself in the process. This is becoming a problem: Indian on Indian violence ( 6 murders so far this year….a lot for a country like Australia, barely a blip in India ). But the killing of this beautiful little boy is beyond the pale. My sense is that Australians have had enough of India and the incessant whining and bleating about racism. Maybe Canada wants them. I suspect Australia’s welcome for Indian students is just about over
We share your concern about lack of professional conduct on the part of Indian media. One of the things media can do and it does so often is fan social conflict. Indian media need to calm down and not scream racism every time someone from the Indian community becomes a victim of foul play. In the instance of the toddler our experience told us that it was more likely that someone close to the child that was involved. Hopefully Indian media will now stop screaming about racism.