It's been revealed the man who fatally stabbed 21-year-old AUT student Farzana Yaqubi was here illegally and served a deportation notice.
Kanwarpal Singh, 30, pleaded guilty to murdering Yaqubi in broad daylight as she was making her way home from work on December 19 last year.
On Wednesday, Singh was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years.
In the Auckland High Court on Wednesday, Justice David Johnstone said, "that by the time of your offending, your visitor permit had expired around six months prior".
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) confirmed to Newshub that between January 2015 and May 2022, Singh held a number of student and work visas until an essential skill work visa application was declined in 2022.
In June 2022, Singh made a ministerial request for a character waiver and work visa under Section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009, which the spokesperson said was declined in August 2022.
By November 2022, INZ contacted Singh to inform him he was unlawful and that he needed to depart Aotearoa.
"He was provided his options, whether he wanted to depart willingly, or whether he needed financial help to depart."
But Singh did not contact INZ and he was served with a deportation order in December 2022, the same month he murdered Yaqubi.
"We can confirm that during the time of the offending, Mr Singh was unlawfully in New Zealand, and his deportation order was served after the offending."
Though no action was taken to deport Singh as INZ had been made aware that he was facing serious criminal charges.
