07 September,2010 01:03 PM IST | | Agencies
An Indian national accused of killing three-year-old Gurshan Singh Channa pleaded guilty Tuesday to the crime in a court in Australia.
Gursewak Dhillon, 23, appeared in Melbourne Magistrates Court where he entered a guilty plea, The Age reported.
The Indian boy had gone missing from a house in Lalor, a suburb in Melbourne, in March and his body was found hours later on the side of a road near Melbourne Airport.
Dhillon, who shared a house with Gurshan's parents, previously admitted disposing of the body, but denied deliberately injuring the child.
Documents released from the court show that Dhillon knocked Gurshan unconscious while the boy was moving around the house, the report said.
Dhillon's wife, Simarjeet Kaur, heard Gurshan fall to the ground with a loud bang and saw her husband hold the boy, the documents revealed.
When his wife said that she would get Gurshan's mother, who was in the bathroom, Dhillon told her not to, and instead to get his keys from the bedroom.
He then put the boy in the boot of a car and drove around for three hours, dumping the boy on the side of the road before returning home.
Dhillon said he intended to driving to a surgery or hospital but panicked, fearing authorities would find he had entered Australia under a false name and so would face deportation.
"I was afraid ... that if I call the ambulance, then I will be in the court and I, I have to go to the police. I want to keep myself safe and that's why I didn't call the ambulance," he told police.
A post-mortem examination on the child found slight bruising consistent with a minor knock to the head, but failed to find a cause of death.
Gurshan's mother, Harpreet Channa, told police that on the day he died Gurshan had not eaten and had just been drinking milk.
Dhillon did not apply for bail Tuesday and was remanded in custody to appear at the Supreme Court Sep 21.
Gurshan's parents returned to their home village in the state of Punjab shortly after their son's death.
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