Ex-teacher jailed over attack that killed father

A court heard yesterday how well-respected Tarsam Singh had worked nights at a local engineering firm to fund his only son’s private education, but 33-year-old Jasknwal Rana’s life went off the rails after he married a Canadian woman.

Seven months before the fatal attack at the family home in Alder Street, Fartown, Rana had had to leave Canada after assaulting his wife and in November last year he was cautioned for hitting his mother.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Mr Singh, who had been registrar at his Sikh temple, tried to stop his son’s excessive drinking by visiting local shops and off-licences telling owners not to sell Rana spirits.

But on the night of his death his son had been drinking lager and vodka before Mr Singh was assaulted in the kitchen of his home.

The Honorary Recorder of Bradford Judge James Stewart QC suggested that tensions in the family were like “a volcano waiting to erupt’’ and they did so on May 6 with tragic results.

“The catalyst for your attack appears to have been that you thought your father was going on at you for your drinking. Telling you to stop drinking,” said Judge Stewart.

Rana put his father in a headlock before punching him two or three times in the face, breaking his nose and causing it to bleed heavily.

Although Mr Singh was able to go to a neighbour’s house and get them to contact the police he later returned to his own property where he collapsed in the driveway.

It was only after his death that it was discovered he was suffering from severe ischemic heart disease and could have died at any time.

Judge Stewart accepted that Rana had not intended to cause his father serious harm and that he would have to live with what happened forever.