Sandeep Dhiman was stabbed and stomped to death on the side of a Hawke's Bay road. Marty Sharpe looks at how that came to happen.

Few murders are as mindless and brutal as that of Sandeep Dhiman.

The IT worker came to New Zealand in 2015 with a life of hope and promise ahead of him.

He was found dead in a roadside ditch near Napier on December 18, 2017 - which would have been his 31st birthday.

Why did he die? Because 17-year-old Rosie Lewis wanted a car, any car - even Dhiman's 2006 Toyota Passo, and she thought nothing of having someone killed to get it.

READ MORE:

* Teenaged girl pleads guilty to hatching plan to murder man she matched with on Tinder

* Teen jailed for life of murder of man found in roadside ditch near Napier

* Teen admits murdering man whose body was found in roadside ditch near Napier

* Sandeep Dhiman should have been celebrating his 31st birthday the day his body was found

* Teens accused of murdering man in Hawke's Bay appear in High Court



Her means of achieving this goal was as simple as it was stupid. She would befriend men on the dating app Tinder, arrange to meet them, then tell her friend Shaun Karauria that the man had molested her and then she would ask Karauria, 17, to "smash" him, stab him, and leave him somewhere remote.

She called Karauria her "cousin". The nature of their relationship is unknown. They only became acquainted recently, but she clearly had him on a string.

Dhiman was employed by Chorus and had been living in Napier for about seven months before his death. He came to New Zealand to pursue his studies and job opportunities.

At some stage he and Lewis were 'matched' on Tinder and they had met a few times.

SUPPLIED Sandeep Dhiman was killed on a remote Hawke's Bay road on December 17, 2017.

On the afternoon of December 16 Dhiman purchased a new Samsung cellphone for Lewis. They took selfies together, her making signs with her fingers and poking out her tongue.

A few hours later, after he had dropped her home, Lewis used the phone to contact another Indian man on Tinder. On discovering he drove a Subaru Legacy, she arranged for him to take her, a friend, and Karauria for a drive that evening.

She spent the next few days getting Dhiman and the other man to ferry her and her friends between Napier, Hastings and Flaxmere, where she lived.

At some stage that weekend, according to the police summary of facts, she confided in a friend that she and Karauria were planning to "take an Indian for a drive and kill him on the weekend of 23 December, 2017".

For reasons unknown Lewis brought the date forward to December 17. In the first hours of that day she struck up a long text message conversation with the other man. Later in the morning she told Karauria she would be taking the man's car.

But it had dawned on the man that she was only interested in his car and he declined to pick her up. So an hour later she got back on to Dhiman, who agreed to pick her and a friend up for a drive that afternoon.

ANDRE CHUMKO/STUFF A truck driver found Dhiman's body alongside the road on the day that should have been his 31st birthday.

Karauria, unaware that Lewis had given up on the other man and moved on to Dhiman, text messaged Lewis to ask if he should take the car while Lewis distracted him. She replied "If u want to".

Dhiman drove Lewis and her friend to a bottle store, where he bought a box of Cody's bourbon and cola cans, then to an Indian takeaways, then to his home in Napier, where he made them dinner.

All the while Dhiman was doing this for Lewis and her friend, Lewis was text messaging Karauria to arrange the location of the attack.

SUPPLIED Sandeep Dhiman's 2006 Toyota Passo. The day after they killed Dhiman for this car Shaun Karauria and Rosie Lewis tried to sell it for $900.

Here is a snapshot of the text exchange:

4.17pm, Lewis: "We should run him over."

4.19pm, Lewis: "Or you just smash him over... Thenu smash him up then ditch him."

4.21pm, Karauria: "Yip I'll do that I'll bring a pole as well and then give him a hiding and then we ditch him."

4.22pm, Karauria: "Soo wea are we going otane [south of Hastings] or tutira [north of Napier]."

4.22pm, Lewis: "And stab him cousin up to u... Yip make sure he can't get back cous".

​4.25pm, Karauria: "Tutira would be the best one and yip I will cous I'll bring an butcher knife as well."

4.26pm, Lewis: "Your doing it cousin just make sure he ain't able go get up."

4.30pm, Karauria: "Yeah ik cousin I'm doing this."

At around 5.30pm Dhiman took Lewis and her friend home to Flaxmere. At Lewis's request he collected Karauria and another male teen along the way.

SUPPLIED The site of Sandeep Dhiman's murder. He was stabbed on this farm track off Matahorua Road, north of Napier. The stabbing occurred at a site obscured by the tall tree at the left of the photograph. Dhiman staggered back to the road, where he was assaulted again and died.

As they picked up Karauria Lewis sent him a text saying "This is a different Indian go with the flow", as Karauria had still believed they were targeting the other man.

After dropping the group off Dhiman returned home. At 7.24pm he received a text message from Lewis asking him to give her 'nephew' a lift home.

Dhiman picked up Lewis, Karauria and the other male from a Flaxmere address at 8.25pm.

Karauria, who had armed himself with a kitchen knife, sat in the passenger's seat. Lewis and the other male sat in the back seats.

They talked Dhiman into taking them to the remote rural area of Tutira, a 40-minute drive north of Napier.

As they made the trip Lewis and Karauria were continuing their planning over text message.

8.30pm, Lewis: "You gt this cuz."

8.30pm, Karauria: "Yeah ik cous."

8.31pm, Lewis: "I'm scared cousin."

8.31pm, Karauria: "I am but at the same time I'm gonna stab this c... up for touching u."

8.32pm, Lewis: "Thanks cousin he tried to kiss me."

8.33pm, Karauria: "That's in cous."

​8.43pm, Lewis: "Take him out far."

8.44pm, Karauria: "Had to put the knife on the other side of my pocket so its easier for mW to pull out."

8.44pm, Lewis: "Tell him u wanna talk to him cousin fake him for a walk."

8.45pm, Karauria: "I'll do it in here and someone can pull him out."

8.45pm, Lewis: "Na take him for a walk."

8.57pm, Karauria: "I'm gonna stop at the gorge and take a piss and then I while get him out of the car and stab him and throw him over the cliff."

8.57pm, Lewis: "Where what not till u get the keys cousin."

Sometime after 9pm the group arrived at a secluded location on Matahorua Rd. Karauria got out of the car and walked up a nearby driveway. Lewis told Dhiman he should go and talk with Karauria.

SUPPLIED Re-creation of the text messages between teen murderers Rosie Lewis (in grey) and Shaun Karauria (in green).

Dhiman and Karauria climbed over a gate and walked around a small bend in the driveway, out of sight of the car. It was here that Karauria took out the kitchen knife and stabbed Dhiman nine times in the back, throat, heart and chest. He stabbed him with such force that the blade of the knife broke from the handle.

Karauria returned to the car and threw the knife handle onto the ground.

The badly-injured Dhiman managed to climb back over the gate and stagger back to the road. He cried out for help before collapsing on the grass verge.

Karauria returned to Dhiman and kicked him in the head and stomped on his face until he thought he was dead.

The other male then removed two cellphones from Dhiman's pockets. Then Karauria got in the driver's seat and drove off. But Lewis said she saw Dhiman move, so Karauria reversed the car, got out and stomped on his face again until he stopped moving.

As the trio drove back to Napier Lewis grabbed one of the cellphones off the other male and said it was now hers. The other phone was thrown from the car and has never been found.

They drove back to Karauria's house. The next morning, December 18, Karauria put a message on a local Facebook page asking of anyone wanted to buy a car for $1500. He entered a conversation with a potential buyer, sending them a photo of the Passo and agreeing to sell it for $900.

The buyer took the car for a drive, but decided not to buy it as she considered it too good to be true.

Meanwhile, Dhiman's body had been found on the roadside. That evening the other male went to the Napier police station and told police what had occurred.

SUPPLIED TRe-creation of the text messages between teen murderers Rosie Lewis (in grey) and Shaun Karauria (in green).

Dhiman's cellphone was found at Lewis's address.

Karauria told police he killed Dhiman because Lewis had told him that Dhiman had tried to touch her.

Lewis, who had not previously appeared in court, told police she had limited knowledge of the plan to kill Dhiman, but admitted knowing Karauria had a knife.

Karauria pleaded guilty to murder and aggravated robbery. In May Justice Simon France sentenced him to life in prison with a minimum non-parole period of 12 years.

"I think everyone who hears these facts will be struggling to believe them. Planning to steal a car is one thing but literally planning, as you did, to kill the person as well is so callous and unnecessary as to defy belief, " Justice France said.

Five weeks later Lewis entered guilty pleas to charges of murder, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to rob.

ANDRE CHUMKO/STUFF Matahorua Road, where Dhiman's body was found, is about 50km north of Napier.

On Friday she was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum non parole period of eleven years.

Before sentencing Lewis, who is now 18, Justice David Collins told her Dhiman's mother was struggling to come to terms with her loss "for so little gain and for your selfish desires".

"She was heartbroken reading through your text messages knowing that you planned to kill her son and that it was not just some random act of violence," the judge said.

He said Dhiman's father said his pain was unbearable and that Lewis and Karauria had robbed him of his life as well as his son.

"He says they were a close family and his son's death has left a hole in their lives," the judge said.

He told Lewis the murder involved a high level of callousness and Dhiman died a slow, violent and painful death.

"Your actions displayed a complete contempt for his life and a total lack of humanity," he said.

After Lewis's sentencing Dhiman's older brother Dheeraj told Stuff the family was stunned and disappointed at the sentences handed down to his killers.

His older brother Dheeraj, who had flown to New Zealand to celebrate Dhiman's birthday only to be met by police informing him of his brother's death, said it was difficult to understand how Lewis's and Karauria's sentences could be so light given the brutal nature of their crime.

"They are 17 now. They'll be out in 11 and 12 years, when they are just 29 and more than capable of committing the same brutal things," Dheeraj said.

"Our family does not believe these two are sorry for what they did, and that they only expressed remorse as a means to lessen their sentence," he said.

"Those of us with brothers, sons, daughters and other family should not have to fear that these people will be back on the street and in a position to do more harm," he said.

"We sent him to New Zealand for a better future, a better education, a better life. Not for this. All the hopes put into Sandeep were gone in seconds."

"Sandeep was a loving, gentle person who had much to offer the world and those around him. The pain of having him taken in the manner he was is very hard to take. I would not wish this on anyone," he said.