A drunk driver who tried to blame his dead friend for a horrific car crash has been sentenced to more than three years in jail.
Surinder Singh, 32, was driving towards a Newcastle bottle shop while three times over the legal blood alcohol limit with his roommate and friend, Jujhar Singh, 27, on the night of November 5, 2022.
Surinder was seen driving erratically weaving through traffic and reaching speeds of up to 130km/h on Main Road in Tighes Hill.
Just eight seconds after Surinder sped past a random breath testing station, his sedan veered off Maitland Rd at Tighes Hill and crashed into a power pole outside the Royal Oak Hotel.
The impact of the collision split the car in two and Jujhar, who was in the passenger seat, was ejected from the wreckage.
Surinder Singh has been sentenced to several years behind bars for killing his ‘best friend’ in a horror car crash (pictured) and then telling officers it was his friend’s fault.
The Newcastle University student suffered multiple fatal injuries but, as he lay dying on the road, Surinder attempted to blame the accident on his friend.
Surinder suffered only minor injuries in the accident and managed to free himself from the vehicle.
He told paramedics and witnesses at the scene: “I begged him not to drive because I was having a few drinks.”
The driver added more lies to lies in later interviews with investigators.
“I told him not to drive,” he told police, the Newcastle Herald reported.
‘It’s not important enough to leave the house, but he said we needed food.
‘I said, ‘No, we’re drunk, we can’t go’… and he told me to go with him and I went and sat in the passenger seat.’
Surinder even went so far as to tell officers that he had begged Jujhar to stop speeding before the accident.
However, police gathered evidence that clearly indicated that the passenger side of the vehicle had sustained the majority of the damage.
Once informed that there was no way he could have suffered minor injuries as a passenger, Surinder admitted to getting behind the wheel to go buy a vape pen after drinking a bottle of whiskey with Jujhar.
Judge Ian Bourke concluded on Friday that Surinder’s lies indicated he was aware he was too drunk to drive but still decided to get behind the wheel.
While Surinder now claims to feel immense guilt over the accident, he told a psychologist that he “panicked” when he saw the RBT because of a history of police violence and oppression in his home country of India.
“I do not accept the suggestion that the accident was due to or contributed to the offender observing an RBT unit,” Judge Bourke said.
“I am satisfied that it was a product of his decision to drive knowing that he was impaired by alcohol and the manner and speed with which he drove.”
Judge Bourke found Surinder’s decision was “relatively spontaneous and unplanned” leading to a “very serious form” of dangerous and aggravated driving.
Surinder told a psychologist he “panicked” when he saw a random breath testing station because of a history of police oppression in his home country of India (RBT unit file image)
He added that by lying to blame Jujhar, Surinder had “dishonoured the name of the deceased”.
Surinder pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving causing death and was allowed a 25 per cent discount on his sentence of a maximum of six years in prison.
He will not be eligible for parole until September 5, 2026 after he has been granted a non-parole period of three years and 10 months.
