Death of security guard stunned Auckland’s Sikh Community

Auckland, NZ: The employer of a young Indian security guard who was killed on his first night watching over a west Auckland building site says there was no reason to fear for the man’s safety.

Police have revealed that Charanpreet Singh Dhaliwal, 21, died from head injuries as a result of being assaulted, and have launched a homicide investigation. The security guard was found by workmates at the CNE Security West Auckland construction site about 3.15am on November 18.

It was his first night working at the site located near the Lincoln Road – North Western Motorway over bridge, and he was working alone.

The Auckland Sikh community gathered last night to mourn his death and the owner of CNE Security, Cherag Noshirelavia, said Dhaliwal wasn’t even meant to be working on the night the assault happened.

“The person who was supposed to work didn’t want to work that night, and this person wanted a job, so I said ‘look you want a job you can come and try this shift on,’ and he agreed, and that’s what happened,” he told ONE News.

“I’d like to say I’m sorry this has happened to a person… It’s hard to believe that it’s happened to be honest.”

Noshirelavia said he didn’t want to say too much while the police investigation was continuing but he felt there was “nothing untoward” about the site.

However, Dhaliwal’s mother in India, Karamjit Kaur, said he should have never been left alone on his first night on the job.

“The company where he started work they have not communicated with us, they should have taken some responsibility about why this happened and why a student was all by himself,” she told Tarana Radio.

Supporting his family

Dhaliwal, a devout Sikh, was working to pay for his IT studies and raise money to send to his mother and brother who live in Punjab. He had raised $13, 000.

“When the mother had sent her child abroad for studies, did she ever think only the body would come back? That thought hurts us the most,” Dhaliwal’s teacher Dipti Masarani said.

“Why was he sent alone in day one of his job, in an area targeted by thieves?”

Photos of Dhaliwal’s body, showing the extent of his head injuries, were placed on top of his coffin as he was laid to rest yesterday.

“(This) does not give a good name to New Zealand as a country,” mourner Kharag Singh said.

“When young fellas are looking forward to… youngsters, you can see all around, they come here to study, and … it so saddens us today.”

Daljit Singh from the Supreme Sikh Council said “everyone from the community will be very happy” when the killer is found.

Aman Singh agreed – he lived and studied with Dhaliwal since he moved to New Zealand one and a half years ago.

“He had no enemies, nothing like that. He just goes to his job and come straight away to home, and spends all the time with us. So it’s hard for us to understand how it could happen.”

The Sikh community have raised $8000 to fly the young student’s body home, plus another $7000 for his widowed mother.

Tomorrow night, Dhaliwal’s body will be brought back to the temple he visited at least once a week for a final farewell before being flown to India later this week.

A member of the Sikh community has been appointed to care for the body until its proposed return.

His mother has indicated via the Supreme Sikh Council she will come to New Zealand to visit the site of her son’s death.

Police investigate

Waitakere Police initially remained tight-lipped about the investigation, dubbed Operation Hope, but say they are reviewing CCTV footage from the area Dhaliwal died.

“Security surveillance footage is being widely accessed and reviewed. We are viewing all available footage from this area,” said Detective Senior Sergeant Stan Brown of Waitakere CIB.

Police also say industrial locations near the construction site and several “groups” are of interest.

“They (the groups) were not on the site as such, they were near the construction site. There was one group that were on the road and this location is also near the service station at the corner of Lincoln Road,” said Brown.

We know people were out and about nearby and obviously our appeal is that if those people would like to come forward and talk to us even if it is a ‘yes I was in that location and I saw nothing,” said Brown.

“The post mortem details are not being released.”

Anyone with information about the attack on Charanpreet Dhaliwal is urged to contact the Operation Hope team on 0800 674 673.

Source: ONE NEWS