An Indian Uber driver has been spared jail for sexually abusing a female passenger, and asked to be spared a conviction so he won’t be deported from New Zealand.
Jaspreet Singh, 33, was sentenced by Auckland District Court Judge Brooke Gibson to just five months’ home detention, and ordered to pay his victim $10,000 for emotional harm inflicted during the 2024 attack.
Singh was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault by a jury in May, after a 2025 trial resulted in a hung jury, which his victim said shattered her “faith in people”, The New Zealand Herald reported.
Judge Gibson told the court in sentencing on Friday that Singh’s then-22-year-old victim was crying when she got into the back of his vehicle at 1.20am for a short trip to Mount Eden.
He invited her to sit in the front seat, and then proceeded to sexually touch, hug and kiss her. When they arrived at her destination Singh also got out of the car, hugged her again and grabbed her bottom.
The young woman told the court she still blamed herself for the assaults for getting in the front seat, and was scared that Singh knew where she lived.
“I know, rationally, that no seat in that car made what happened acceptable,” she said.
“But that is what this kind of violation does to a person.”
She also revealed she had just completed four years of therapy for past sexual abuse and was “in a good place” when she got in Singh’s car, but now suffers from anxiety, needs counselling again, and has difficulties eating and sleeping.
A week after the assaults she was forced to take another Uber to an exam and suffered a panic attack, and had another panic attack when a man who looked like Singh walked into her office.
About 10 of Singh’s family members, including his wife and baby, supported him in court, where his lawyer Andy Wei asked for no conviction to be recorded as his client was a risk of being deported.
Mr Wei argued that Singh’s wife’s visa was tied to his, meaning she would have to leave the country also, and that their New Zealand citizen baby would not have the benefits of Indian citizenship, as India does not allow dual nationality.
“The deportation and the family harm would be permanent,” he told the court.
Judge Gibson said in sentencing that the victim had suffered long-term “psychological damage”, but also took into account Singh’s lack of criminal history and an assessment that he was a low-risk of reoffending in deciding to give him home detention.
“I can accept that this was … a one-off,” he said.
He also found that there was no risk of family separation if Singh was deported as the wife’s visa was tied to her husband’s, and convicted Singh of all four charges.
Header image: Jaspreet Singh in court (Open Justice – Jason Dorday).
