Medical Student Lured Television Executive Gagandip Singh To His Death After 'Attempted Rape'

Medical Student 'Lured Television Executive To His Death'

A medical student lured a television executive to his death after he tried to rape her, the Old Bailey has heard.

Mundill Mahil, 20, invited Gagandip Singh, 21, back to her home in Brighton six months after the attack.

Within hours, Mr Singh lay dying in the boot of a Mercedes car which had been set alight, said Aftab Jafferjee, QC, prosecuting.

He told the jury that two "gangster" friends of Mahil lay in wait for him, beat him unconscious, dumped him in the boot and drove to London where the fire was started.

Mr Jafferjee said Mr Singh and one of the accused, Harvinder Shoker, known as Ravi, were both "besotted" with Mahil who was described by all "as an intelligent and attractive young woman".

Mr Singh was the owner of a new broadcasting service called Sikh TV, and also helped in his family's successful packing business. His father was murdered whilst visiting India in September 2009, the court heard.

Mr Jafferjee said Mahil and Mr Singh had been friends when in 2009 she began a medical degree at Brighton and Sussex University: "He wooed her with offers of gifts and then sadly, at the end of August 2010, he stayed the night in the house she shared with fellow female medical students. It is common ground in this case that he tried to have sex with her, by getting into her bed."

"Both she and he were to describe it as an attempted rape. In fact, her description of events to her friends suggests that it did not get as far as that because she forced him away - and he broke down in tears and left. She was extremely upset and angry at what she - with some justification - perceived as a great betrayal of trust."

As the months wore on, Mr Singh tried unsuccessfully to contact Mahil by bombarding her with texts and calls, but this left Mahil overwrought, Mr Jafferjee said.

Shoker, 20, of Charlton Park Lane, Greenwich, and Darren Peters, 20, of Shooters Hill Road, Blackheath, both south east London, and Mahil, of Maidstone Road, Chatham, Kent, deny murder.

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