Woman killed at Sydney park
Indian mum brutally knifed during phone call with husband
SYDNEY: An Indian mother was fatally stabbed at a Sydney park in a brutal attack as she was on the phone with her distraught husband back home, police said.
Prabha Arun Kumar, a 41-year-old IT professional, was taking a shortcut through Parramatta Park in the city’s west on Saturday night when she was killed.
Family members told Indian media she was speaking with her husband G. Arun Kumar at the time when he heard her scream for help.
“She was walking and talking to Arun on the phone when she said a suspicious-looking man was following her,” Prabha’s brother-in-law Thrijesh Jayachandra told Indian newspaper 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 had been stabbed.”
The husband jetted to Australia yesterday to help police with their investigation.
“He’s understandably extremely distressed,” homicide squad commander Michael Willing said.
“Here we have an Indian national who has been in the country for some time, going about her business, and she ends up being killed in a very vicious way.”
Police have also appealed to the public for help, releasing footage of Prabha walking from Parramatta Railway Station.
“It’s a horrific crime ... we think that she sustained a number of injuries to the neck area with what we believe is a sharp-edged weapon,” Willing said.
Police said there was nothing to suggest the murder of Prabha, 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.
Prabha’s flatmate said she had probably not wanted to bother anyone for a lift home after finishing work late and arriving at Parramatta Railway Station at 9pm.
“Since she worked late regularly, she felt bad asking for help,” her flatmate, who wanted to be known only 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 left in her honour yesterday.
Prabha 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. She was just 300m from home.
“I don’t know how I am going to face her husband,” Sarada said. “She was very close to her husband and daughter. She talked to them every day as soon as she finished work. She had a good family.” — AFP