Aussie teen sentenced in Nittin Garg murder

Melbourne : An Australian teenage, who an accomplice in the murder of Indian student Nitin Garg in January this year, was sentenced to 18-month probation by the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The 16-year-old was reportedly a witness to Garg?s muder.

Court documents reveal he was an accessory after the fact by demanding that Garg dispose of his own mobile phone.

?The prosecution said the accused said to his friend ?that bloke’s phone looks nice?, which prompted him to allegedly approach Mr Garg with a knife and stab him in the abdomen,? reported The Age newspaper.

On Oct 23, the boy, whose name has not been disclosed due to legal reasons, appeared in a Melbourne juvenile court with his mother earlier and was charged with one count of murder. He pleaded guilty, reports said.

The report said the teenager gave false information to police and made false police statements to protect his co-accused, a 16-year-old charged with murder.

21-year-old Garg was stabbed at Cruickshank Park, in Melbourne’s west, on his way to work at a Yarraville Hungry Jack’s outlet in the night on Jan 2.

After he was stabbed, Garg moved to the fast food outlet at the corner of Somerville and Geelong roads, and died shortly.

The prosecutor said one of Garg’s fellow workers told police about an incident early last year in which the student was threatened and pursued by a stranger.

Garg’s murder had sent shock waves back home and came after a series of racial attacks against Indian students in Australia.