News of her murder in Melbourne sent shock waves across the country. Now the body of exchange student Aya Maasarwe’s has been flown back to her hometown in Israel to be buried in accordance with her Muslim faith.
Arun Chandran, the Indian-origin event co-ordinator who organized an event she attended the day she died has expressed his shock to SBS Malayalam over the tragic incident.
“She was always a very happy person and very open-minded. So it is really hard to forget someone like her and she was very friendly as well. It is very unfortunate that something like this can happen to someone like her,” he said.
Arun co-ordinated an event at Flagstaff Gardens in Melbourne's CBD named Let’s Talk in English on January 15. It was an event organised for those who wish to talk in English and learn the language. Aya attended the event before she went to a comedy show after which Aya was brutally murdered in the northern suburb of Bundoora.
“We had the event between 6 pm and 8 pm last Tuesday. Aya came a bit late. She came around 7 pm and she was there between 7 pm and 8 pm. As usual she looked happy and cheerful when I met her last,” adds Arun.
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“She was also there for an event in December last year. That was for a different event where we went to see the kangaroos in the wild.”
Shocked by news of her death Arun contacted Crime Stoppers and provided them with the group photos of the event in which Aya Maasarwe attended.
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“She was here to study and make her career better. Am thinking that Melbourne is a safe place to study. I still feel Melbourne is relatively safer than many places. However it is sad that such a thing has happened and I hope that it doesn’t happen again,” says Arun.
“I do want to extend my condolences to her family. I did see her dad’s message on social media. It is very sad for the family to have such terrible news and should be very hard for them to manage. So my sincere condolences to them.”
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It was on January 16th that 21-year-old Aya Maasarwe, a Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship, was found murdered near a tram stop in Melbourne's Bundoora. There were reports that she was assaulted before she was brutally murdered. Police later arrested 20-year-old man Codey Herrmann from Greensborough.
Aya's death pompted thousands to take to the streets in Sydney and Melbourne demanding safety for women on Australian streets.
