Another Australian boy pleads guilty to Indian’s murder

MELBOURNE - Another 16-year-old boy from Melbourne Friday pleaded guilty to being involved in the killing of Indian student Nitin Garg in this city in January.

According to police, Garg, 22, was viciously stabbed when he was going to work at Hungry Jack’s restaurant in Yarraville in January this year. He died later in hospital. Garg was assaulted in nearby Cruikshank Park and staggered to the restaurant in a severely injured state.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, appeared in a Melbourne Children’s Court Friday, the Herald Sun reported.

The teenager, charged with stealing Garg’s mobile phone, gave false information to police and made wrong statements to protect his co-accused, also aged 16 who appeared in court Thursday and was charged with murdering Garg.

The court heard Thursday that Garg was twice followed and once threatened with a knife before his death.

The Melbourne teenager will appear for a plea hearing in the Supreme Court later this year. The co-accused charged with stabbing and killing Garg intends to contest the charge at a committal hearing next year.

The two boys, who were aged 15 at the time of Garg’s murder, were arrested by Homicide Squad detectives and charged in June.

Melbourne is Australia’s second most populous city and capital of Victoria state.

There have been a string of attacks on Indians here as well as in Sydney, Australia’s most populous city. Garg’s killing caused an outrage in India.