Pritpal Singh, Chamkaur Singh: Perth men accused of Geraldton foreshore sexual assault in court for bail bid

Two Perth men accused of a horrific sexual assault of a woman on the Geraldton foreshore have appeared in court for a bail application. Pritpal Singh, 34, and Chamkaur Singh, 33, who are not related but work together and live in the Perth suburb of Piara Waters, appeared in Geraldton Magistrates Court together via video link for a bail application on Monday. The application had been adjourned from Friday, after Magistrate Matthew Walton suggested a short period of time to consider CCTV and body-worn camera footage before making bail determinations. Both men are charged with one count of aggravated sexual penetration without consent after allegedly leading a woman from the Foreshore Hangout Lounge to the beach and sexually assaulting her between 11.50pm on Friday, April 4 and 12.40am on Saturday, April 5. During the application, the court was told that Chamkaur Singh allegedly tried to separate the woman from her friend while Pritpal led her to the beach. According to police prosecutor Sgt Paul Burkinshaw, Pritpal Singh provided officers with a false name and date of birth and Chamkaur Singh had run from officers arriving to the scene who observed that his “fly was undone”. The defence lawyer for Pritpal Singh claimed that the “statement of material facts” had been “prepared unfairly and is misleading” and that counsel for both men had received 10 hours of CCTV vision with 17 different files and no detailed log with timestamps to help them review the footage. Mr Walton said he would not like the defence counsel to be at a disadvantage when making submissions. “This is a relatively orthodox bail application apart from which there is some further information evidence potential that is being relied upon which is CCTV, which could be described as unusual in charges of this nature,” he said. Mr Walton ordered the prosecution to disclose all relevant CCTV logs and any other available and relevant disclosure on or before noon on April 16. The two men were remanded in custody and are due back in court on Wednesday, April 16. If have been a victim of sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, please contact police on 131 444, or report the information via the anonymous Safe2Say online reporting platform.