Singh apologises to Oz family for helping killer driver flee to India

Melbourne, Feb 18 (ANI): Sukhcharanjit Singh, who has been charged for allegedly helping a killer driver flee Australia on a false passport, has apologised to the family of the man the fugitive killed.

Puneet Puneet remains at large after fleeing Australia in June 2009 while awaiting a pre-sentence hearing over a fatal crash in Melbourne in October 2008.

After pleading guilty to culpable driving, Puneet left Australia using the passport of his friend Sukhcharanjit Singh.

Puneet had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.165 and was travelling at 148km/h when he lost control and slammed into two pedestrians in central Melbourne.

Queensland student Dean Hofstee died in the accident, The Herald Sun reports.

On Friday, at a pre-sentence hearing in the County Court, Singh, 22, apologised to Hofstee's family through his barrister Antony Trood.

"I am specifically instructed by my client to publicly apologise to the family members of the deceased who are present in court," the AAP quoted Trood, as saying.

Singh accepted that he gave Puneet his passport, but claimed the act was done so that Puneet could get him a credit card.

He and his family have promised to help authorities find Puneet, the court heard.ingh will be sentenced on March 24. (ANI)