By Rebecca Henely
A Woodside man arrested in 2008 pleaded guilty to manslaughter last week for stabbing his wife to death while their then-7-year-old daughter looked on, the Queens district attorney’s office said.
Balbir Singh, 37, an Indian immigrant who lived at 64th Street and 35th Avenue, entered the plea before Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder Friday as a bargain in exchange for a sentence of 25 years in prison, the DA said. The actual sentencing is planned for Feb. 1, the DA said.
Singh and his wife, Kulwinder Kaur, had been arguing at their home April 6, 2008, when Singh stabbed her four times: once in the chest, once in the breast, once in the upper right shoulder and once in the upper back, the DA said. Singh also received 17 other defensive wounds, the DA said. When Singh and Kaur’s daughter, Bubita Rani, attempted to help Kaur, Singh stabbed Bubita on the forearm, the DA said. The wound required 11 stitches, the DA said.
“The guilty plea is a guarantee that the defendant will be punished for this horrific crime and his daughter will be spared the trauma of testifying about her mother’s death,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown in a statement.
In interviews conducted by TimesLedger Newspapers at the time of the attack, Kaur’s relatives described Singh as a violent drunk who would start physical fights with his wife and children: Bubita and a then-5-year-old son.
“He would drink and scream at the wife and kids,” said Manoj Kumar, the defendant’s cousin, in April 2008. “He would make up something in his head to scream about. If he hit her she would say, ‘No, he didn’t hit me.’ He was a nicer person in India.”
Kaur’s brother described Kaur in 2008 as a “happy woman” who enjoyed playing with her children.
Other relatives said in 2008 that she had been planning to move back to India before she died.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
