A young woman stabbed to death by an east Auckland man who had previously stalked her has been awarded an honorary degree.
Farzana Yaqubi never got the chance to live her dream of practicing law in New Zealand.
The 21-year-old was murdered by Kanwarpal Singh, 32, who was living in East Tamaki when he killed her on December 19, 2022.
As reported previously, the two met in September, 2020.
Yaqubi was studying law at Auckland University of Technology (AUT) in central Auckland and Singh was working as a security guard at a location on Queen Street.
On one occasion as she passed Singh’s workplace he struck up a conversation with her and invited her on a coffee date.
Following that he began to continuously message her on social media.
She blocked him on her social media accounts, according to a court document on the case.
“In 2021 and 2022, Singh created multiple new social media accounts and contacted Ms Yaqubi on these.
“Singh began threatening Ms Yaqubi via these accounts.”
He threatened to kidnap her and to throw acid on her face.
Singh added Yaqubi’s family members and friends on social media in an attempt to contact her.
He also followed her, sent her a video filmed outside her address, and had a pizza delivered to her home.
Late last year she made an online report and visited a police station to make a statement about his “harassing” and “stalking” behaviour.
On December 19, she finished work and caught a bus to the west Auckland suburb of Royal Heights.
She got off the bus and entered an alleyway beside Waitakere Badminton Centre, the court document states.
“Singh was waiting in his Toyota vehicle … parked in the rear carpark of the Waitakere Badminton Centre.
“Singh saw Ms Yaqubi walking in the alleyway and approached her with a large knife in his hand.”
She tried to phone police as Singh approached her and stabbed her multiple times in the stomach and chest with the knife.
Yaqubi fell to the ground screaming as Singh stood over her and continued stabbing her before fleeing in his vehicle.
She was tragically pronounced dead at the scene. Police arrested Singh at his home the following day.
He eventually pleaded guilty to her murder and in August was sentenced at the Auckland High Court to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 17 years for the crime.
Auckland University of Technology recently announced it had awarded Yaqubi an honorary degree at a private ceremony held on October 30.
A spokesperson for the university says: “The ceremony was to celebrate Farzana achieving academic excellence.
“AUT wanted to make this small, but heartfelt acknowledgement of Farzana and show her family she was appreciated and will be missed.”
Yaqubi’s father had moved to New Zealand as a refugee from Afghanistan.
The police’s response to her complaints about Singh’s “harassing” behaviour is the subject of an ongoing Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation.
