The devastated father of an Israeli student who was murdered on the way home from a night out has spoken out after a 20-year-old man was arrested over the killing.
Aiia Maasarwe, 21, was killed in the north Melbourne suburb of Bundoora after getting off a tram on Tuesday night, and her partially naked body was found in parkland near a shopping centre on Wednesday morning.
Ms Maasarwe’s heartbroken father Saeed broke down and cried while speaking to reporters at the spot where her body was found on Friday.
Through tears, Mr Maasawe thanked the Melbourne community for rallying around his family.
‘This has given me a good feeling,’ he said. ‘But also in another way I am sad because this is the last place my daughter was – I have dreams to be with her but cannot now.
‘Someone had decided I cannot be (with her). I wish, I hope, I pray she is in a more nice place than this place in paradise.’
Aiia Maasarwe (pictured) was murdered and her body was found outside a Melbourne shopping centre on Wednesday
Saeed Maasawe (pictured), the devastated father of Ms Maasarwe has told tearfully of how he dreams to be with his daughter
A 20-year-old man (above) has been arrested over the horrific murder of Aiia Maasarwe, 21 – who was killed in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora after getting off a tram on Tuesday night
The father revealed he had originally planned to come later in January to visit his daughter, who was studying at La Trobe University.
Mr Maasarwe also inspected the tributes left to his daughter at the crime scene and was pictured crying as he admired them.
Earlier on Friday, the 20-year-old man was arrested in Greensborough at a picnic shelter positioned close to a children’s park which is a known hang out for youths to smoke drugs.
He was found by police in a shelter with a woman and a group of young men.
Neighbours said they saw plain clothes and uniformed police arrest the man about 11.20am after approaching him while he was in a rotunda at Pioneer Park.
Tracey Neus said she saw the woman and had a gut instinct to call police.
But when she looked again, police had already converged on the location.
Shane Cairns said he was shaken to learn an alleged killer had been hanging around just outside his home.
‘I’m just shocked. We thought they would have just been some kids,’ he said.
Ms Maasarwe had spent the night at a comedy club before boarding the 86 tram from Bourke Street, heading to her home in Bundoora. She left the tram around midnight. Her body was discovered in scrub, nearby, the next day
The arrested man (pictured) was allegedly in a park with a woman, with one witness claiming she had a ‘gut instinct’ to call police but when she looked again officers had already converged
This is the shelter at Pioneer Reserve where the young man was arrested on Friday
The shelter is a known hang out for local youths who smoke drugs
Witnesses said the man, 20, was with a woman when he was apprehended by uniformed and plain clothed police at the location above
Up to eight police were involved in the arrest, with the alleged killer going quietly, the couple said.
He was identified as a person of interest after police forensically tested a hat and blood-stained T-shirt left at the crime scene, it is understood.
‘The 20-year-old was arrested in Greensborough by local police working in partnership with homicide detectives about 11.20am,’ police said in a statement.
Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said it was believed to be a ‘random attack’ carried out by someone who was ‘opportunistic’.
On Friday afternoon, Ms Maasarwe’s father arrived at the scene of her murder
Scene of the crime: Aiia Maasarwe’s partially naked body was found in scrub (pictured) near where she got off a tram the night before
It is understood the man, 20, was identified as a person of interest after police forensically tested a hat and blood-stained T-shirt (above) left at the crime scene
Mourners gather for a vigil in the memory of slain international student Aiia Maasarwe at Latrobe University, Melbourne
Tears for Aiia: Hundreds mourned the murder of an Israeli student on Friday, hours after a 20-year-old man was arrested
Ms Maasarwe was at The Comic’s Lounge in North Melbourne earlier on Tuesday night and caught the 86 tram from Bourke Street in the city before she was attacked. Pictured: Mourners at her university
Prayers: A group of students and teachers held hands at a vigil for slain Aiia Maasarwe at her university in Melbourne
On Friday, mourners at LaTrobe University where she was studying gathered to pay tribute. Pictured: A student cries into a tissue
‘This was a horrendous, horrific attack inflicted on a completely innocent young woman who was a visitor to our city,’ he said.
Forensic officers were combing through a derelict property in the same suburb where the 20-year-old was arrested on Friday evening, according to The Age, and carrying evidence out of the building.
The case bears similarities to the rape and murder of 22-year-old comedian Eurydice Dixon who was attacked in June while walking home from a gig in Melbourne.
Australia’s human rights commission said the country has a ‘a disturbingly high rate of violence against women’.
Ms Maasarwe had been studying Chinese and English at Shanghai University but moved to Melbourne six months ago to study at LaTrobe University.
The 21-year-old was so scared of the walk from the tram stop to her student accommodation she would call one of her sisters while walking to feel safer, a family member told The Australian.
She was heading home from a comedy gig and was on a FaceTime call with her sister when she was attacked and the phone suddenly dropped, her uncle Rame Masarwe said.
Ms Maasarwe’s sister was still on the phone and heard the entire attack unfold, her uncle said.
‘She seemed very happy. Then the phone fell down, she heard voices. The phone was on.’
Ms Maasarwe was at The Comic’s Lounge in North Melbourne earlier on Tuesday night and caught the 86 tram from Bourke Street in the city.
She likely got off the tram in Bundoora near where her body was found, about a kilometre from her student accommodation.
Aiia Maasarwe’s (left, with a friend) partially naked body was found by window washers in scrub outside the Polaris shopping centre on Main Drive near Plenty Road in the Melbourne suburb of Bundoora at 7am on Wednesday
Homicide detectives released CCTV images of Ms Maasarwe in the aftermath of her death, which show the clothing she was wearing that night, in the hope someone saw her and can help police track her exact movements.
Before the arrest, former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina on Friday morning urged witnesses to come forward to stop the attacker killing again.
‘If this person or persons strike again, they have to live with that and say could I have stopped that?’ he said.
People leave floral tributes where the body of Isreali student Aiia Maasarwe was found near the Polaris Shopping centre in Bundoora
Police said in the days after Ms Maarsarwe’s death they were investigating if the student was stalked from the tram and were scouring a list of known sex offenders as an ‘active line of inquiry’.
On Friday Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked about the attack while in Fiji. He told reporters: ‘It is just so shocking.’
The Prime Minister said his heart went out to Ms Maasarwe’s family, though he can’t begin to think of what he would say to them.
‘I know what I’m thinking about her attacker. I expect it’s the same thing that all other Australians are thinking today,’ he said.
Ms Maasarwe had been studying Chinese and English at Shanghai University, but moved to Melbourne six months ago to study at La Trobe University. Pictured: Tributes
Today Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Fiji ‘it is just so shocking. I mean, I’m speechless.’ Pictured: Tributes where her body was found
The Prime Minister stressed everyone in Australia should be able to travel home safely and that the government must remain ‘forever vigilant’ to the issue of violence against women.
On Thursday night, Senator Derryn Hinch sparked outrage after he tweeted details about the horrific murder.
The tweet made graphic and serious allegations about Ms Maasarwe’s killer while comparing the case to that of Jill Meagher, a journalist who was raped and murdered in an inner Melbourne suburb in 2012.
Derryn Hinch stands by his views, despite was slammed on social media on Thursday night
‘Jesus wept. Shades of Jill Meagher,’ Senator Hinch tweeted.
‘I’m hearing the rapist-murderer of that stalked innocent Israeli student is a known sex offender who tried to burn … evidence.
‘What has this town become?’ he ended the tweet.
Final moments: Ms Maasarwe getting off the tram before she was killed
People were quick to slam the federal Senator as insensitive, disrespectful, appalling and inappropriate.
‘Your willingness to exploit any situation is breathtakingly disgraceful. Shame on you Hinch,’ one tweeted.
Another added: ‘Think of her family Derryn! You may ‘want people to know’ but they might not want us to know the details of what happened to their girl. It’s beyond horrible but your blatant disregard of their feelings makes it even worse. Shame!’
Another accused Senator Hinch of using the tragedy to try and make a political point.
‘Sure we can all just rise above politics when a horrific and tragic event like another murder of a young woman occurs?,’ they tweeted.
Many called on Senator Hinch to delete the tweet.
‘Aiia Maasarwe’s family deserves better than this. If you have any respect for Aiia please delete this tweet and apologise to those who loved her,’ one woman commented.
Senator Hinch tweeted that Aiia Maasarwe’s death had ‘shades of Jill Meagher’ (pictured)
The controversial senator responded to the online criticism with this response (pictured)
Senator Hinch has previously been in hot water with the legal system on numerous occasions for contempt of court.
He spent 50 days in prison in 2014 for breaching a suppression order by revealing details of the criminal history of Ms Meagher’s killer Adrian Ernest Bayley.
He was given the option of a fine instead, which he chose not to pay ‘on principle’.
Senator Hinch responded to Thursday night’s backlash and made no apologies for the earlier tweet, which remained online.
Many people called on Senator Hinch to delete the tweet and show respect to Aiia Maasarwe’s (pictured) grieving family
‘To all the do-gooder Tweeters attacking me for telling the gruesome truth about the Bundoora rape/ murder. This brute is still out there. My tweet was for the memory of Jill Meagher and Eurydice Dixon,’ Mr Hinch later tweeted.
His later tweet sparked a war of words with departing federal senator David Leyonhjelm.
‘Except you voted against giving women like these the means to protect themselves. Do you have any principles at all,’ Senator Leyonhjelm posted.
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