Massey murder: Kanwarpal Singh pleads guilty to killing AUT law student Farzana Yaqubi

An Auckland man has pleaded guilty to stabbing to death 21-year-old AUT law student Farzana “Zana” Yaqubi in West Auckland late last year.

East Tamaki resident Kanwarpal Singh, 30, was arrested on December 20, one day after Yaqubi was found dead in an alleyway near home about 5.45pm — spurring a large-scale investigation.

He admitted the murder earlier this month and is set to be sentenced in August, defence lawyer Paul Borich KC confirmed to the Herald today.

Yaqubi has been described by family and friends as a top student who was on scholarship and already had a job offer. She was born in New Zealand shortly after her father arrived as a refugee from Afghanistan, fleeing Taliban persecution.

An observant Shia Muslim, she had been preparing for a religious pilgrimage to Iraq with her family.

“She was the youngest [in the family] but she was the smartest,” a family friend previously told the Herald. “The tragedy has broken everybody’s heart.”

During Singh’s first court appearance in December, at Waitakere District Court, his lawyer had asked for interim name suppression so that his parents in India could be notified of the charge.

Three sisters and two brothers of Yaqubi filled the first row of the courtroom’s gallery during the previous hearing, and screams echoed in the courtroom as the defendant was shuffled out by security.

“You ****ing bastard!” one of the women yelled through tears.

“How could you? How could you?”

“You coward!” another sibling yelled.

The same family members quietly attended a hearing on February 1 in the High Court at Auckland, where Singh briefly appeared in the dock as his lawyer entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Singh remains in custody while awaiting sentencing.

A trial date had previously been set for May 2024.