Sikh priest Sajan Singh was found guilty of six charges of sexual conduct with a child by Judge Nevin Dawson at Auckland District Court.
AUCKLAND – Sikh priest Sajan Singh was found guilty of six charges of sexual conduct with a child by Judge Nevin Dawson at Auckland District Court.
The father of a child sexually abused by a Sikh priest has praised his daughter for speaking out, saying the girl “saved other kids” from facing the same ordeal.
Sajan Singh, a who is from India, was found guilty of six charges of sexual conduct with a child by Judge Nevin Dawson at Auckland District Court on Thursday.
The two victims were aged eight and 12 years old when Singh lured them, separately, into quiet rooms within a West Auckland gurdwara and groped their bottoms. The assaults happened in 2017.
The older girl’s father was at court on Thursday and sighed with relief as the guilty verdicts were read out.
“It’s been two years of battle, but it restores my faith in the justice system to know this man will be punished,” he said afterwards.
His daughter, who was born in New Zealand and is now aged 13, has refused to enter Sikh temples since speaking out against Singh. Her parents said they felt sad about that – but after her ordeal, they respected her decision and had switched temples.
The father said children attended classes at gurdwaras to learn about Sikh culture, the Punjabi language, and traditional music.
“Religion is a way of life; it teaches you to be a good human and to live a good life, so when something like this happens it really sends the wrong message to kids,” he said.
His daughter had told the court Singh asked for her help with tasks in the gurdwara’s storeroom, then touched her bottom in ways that made her “feel disgusted”. She described running away from him, and said he approached her later that day to say, “sorry, but thank you”.
She said Singh’s behaviour “shocked and terrified” her.
The girl first told her mum about the assault and the her parents later learned she wasn’t the only child to have been inappropriately touched by Singh.
“So we went to the police because we wanted to protect other kids,” her father said.
He claimed it was difficult to get the temple’s management to take the girls’ allegations seriously.
“That’s the reason other people do not come forward,” he said.
“There’s this blind faith and trust for people in high positions, in religion, that makes people doubt victims because they simply don’t believe a priest could do these things.”
“I’m very proud of my daughter for speaking out about this man,” he said.
“It would have been much, much worse if she hadn’t, and he was able to keep doing this to children at the gurdwara without any consequences.”
Singh was released on bail and will be sentenced in September. His lawyer said the priest would be deported to India after serving his sentence.
