A Pacific Islander who allegedly killed a well-respected local businessman and father in an unprovoked attack at a Sydney pub has suddenly been granted bail, leaving the victim’s grieving family furious.
Terekia Singapu, 43, who lives in Plumpton, western Sydney, was arrested on November 6 over the alleged one-punch assault on Paul Griffin, 55, who he didn’t know, at the Ettamogah Pub in Kellyville Ridge, and spent months on remand charged with reckless grievous bodily harm and assault causing death.
But on Friday NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Campbell granted the Cook Islander bail despite Singapu’s long and violent criminal history, which includes an assault on a woman on a public street in 2008 that resulted in a jail sentence, an attack on a neighbour in 2016, and a pub brawl in 2020.
Justice Campbell described the alleged attack as “violent and unprovoked” and said that although Singapu was facing a jail sentence of up to 20 years and had a record of “real concern”, he could not determine granting him bail posed an unacceptable risk to the community, The Sunday Telegraph reported.
“There seems to be some connection between his offending and either his presence on licenced premises or the ingestion of alcohol,” he said.
“(But) it’s not permissible for me to withhold bail as a punishment in advance of any conviction, even in a strong Crown case like this and with the likelihood of a jail term.”
Singapu’s bail conditions include home detention with leave to work on a building site at Taronga Zoo between 6am and 6pm six days a week.
Mr Griffin’s devastated widow said the family felt failed by the state’s bail laws and that the courts were treating the alleged killer as if he was the victim in the case.
“As a family we are gutted by this decision despite promises by the Premier and the Attorney-General to toughen bail laws – our family, like many others, has been let down,” she said.
Mr Griffin was put on life support after the attack but died days later, and his daughter Dana said in a social media tribute that her dad was her “best mate” and revealed his organs had been donated.
Header image: Left, Terekia Singapu (Facebook). Right, Paul Griffin and his daughter Dana (Instagram).
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