Agencies/Sydney
Police yesterday released CCTV footage of an Indian IT consultant minutes before she was stabbed to death in a park in Sydney on Saturday, just metres away from her home in Westmead suburb, a media report said.
The footage shows Prabha Arun Kumar, 41, on phone on a well-lit concourse near Parramatta railway station before she took a shortcut through a nearby dimly-lit park where she was attacked and killed, The Sydney Morning Herald reported, adding that police could not find anyone following her or acting suspiciously nearby.
“We are at a loss at this point in time,” Detective Superintendent Michael Willing was quoted as saying. The incident happened at 9.30pm (1030 GMT).
Family members told Indian media that the woman was speaking with her husband, G Arun Kumar, at the time and he heard her scream for help.
“She was walking while talking to Arun on the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her,” brother-in-law Thrijesh Jayachandra told The Hindu.
“The next moment he heard her scream for help and then plead with the man not to harm (her) and take all her belongings if he wanted. Seconds later, he heard her scream and say she was stabbed.”
The husband arrived in Australia yesterday and was helping police with their investigation.
“He’s understandably extremely distressed,” Willing said.
“Here we have an Indian national who has been in the country for some time, going about her business and ends up being killed in a very vicious way.”
Police appealed for help from the public. “It’s a horrific crime. It’s a very, very disturbing crime,” Willing added.
“We think that she sustained a number of injuries to the neck area with what we believe is a sharp-edged weapon.”
Police said there was nothing to suggest the murder of Kumar, who planned to move back to India in April to be with her husband and nine-year-old daughter, was racially motivated.
“Could this be a random attack? Well, yes it could. It could be a whole range of scenarios... and we are considering all of them,” Willing said.
The dead woman’s flatmate said Kumar had probably not wanted to bother anyone to ask for a lift home after finishing work late and arriving at Parramatta train station at 9pm.
“Because she was working late regularly, she felt bad to ask for help,” her flatmate, who asked to be identified as Sarada, told The Daily Telegraph.
Instead she decided to walk, and was attacked near a quiet, tree-lined path where bouquets of flowers were yesterday left in her honour. Kumar was found by a passer-by shortly after the attack and rushed to hospital, but had lost too much blood and doctors were unable to save her.
“I don’t know how I am going to face her husband,” Sarada said. “She is very close to her husband and her daughter.
People walk in a Sydney park yesterday, past the spot where IT professional Prabha Arun Kumar (inset) was stabbed to death during a brutal attack.
