Bengalurean Prabha Arun Kumar said them to her husband before she succumbed to her wounds after she was attacked in a Sydney suburb on her way back home from work
It was a little before 9.30 pm (AEDT) when Prabha Arun Kumar got off at the Parramatta train station in Westmead, a suburb of Sydney, and began walking to her APARTMENT, 500 metres away. The 41-year-old IT consultant from Bengaluru, working with Mindtree Australia, had just finished working overtime at a client’s office in Rhodes.
Prabha was on the phone with her husband who was in their Basaveshwaranagar home as she entered a dimly-lit walkway next to Parramatta Park.
There were sounds of a brief scuffle, but even as her husband grew frantic and asked Prabha what was happening, she reportedly whispered in Kannada, “Nananna kuyidbitta, chinna [He stabbed me, darling]” and the line went dead.
The techie’s body was later reportedly found in a pool of blood with injuries to her neck by a passer-by, who called the police immediately. She was shifted to Westmead hospital, where she died around 12.45
“Arun panicked as soon as the call got disconnected and tried calling Prabha back, but to no avail. He then called her roommate’s cellphone, but it was only after half-an-hour that he managed to get through. He also managed to call a few of her colleagues at Mindtree and inform them that Prabha was in danger. However, it was only after one of her roommates called Arun back that he was told she had
been badly injured and shifted to a hospital,” recalled Arun’s nephew, Thrijesh Jayachandra, speaking to BM.
Back in Bengaluru, all hell broke loose as Prabha’s family began making panicked calls to colleagues, relatives, and the Australian authorities.
Her older brother, who is an Australian citizen and doctor in Perth, also began making arrangements to rush to Sydney and started to gather information. Around 6 pm (IST) on Saturday, the family reportedly received a call from one of Prabha’s colleagues, who reassured them that she was out of danger and being treated at hospital.
“It was only when we were en route to KIA to drop Arun off for his 12.20 am (IST) flight to Sydney that we got a call from Prabha’s brother in Perth, who informed us that she had passed away. Shocked as we were, we decided against telling Arun right away as we didn’t want him to go ballistic during the flight. He reached Sydney by noon on Sunday, where Prabha’s colleagues and roommates broke the news to him. He went to the station and formally identified Prabha’s body, following which the authorities brought him up to speed on the investigation,” Thrijesh added.
Superintendent Wayne Cox from Parramatta police told local media that Prabha left the station, walked along Argyle Street and onto Park Parade before being attacked in Parramatta Park.
“She suffered a life-threatening injury. She was transported to Westmead Hospital and about 12.45am (AEDT) she was pronounced deceased. There was a large amount of blood so she obviously suffered a significant wound,” Cox said.
Police obtained multiple reels of CCTV footage showing her walking along one of Parramatta’s busiest streets a little before the incident took place. While it is still unclear whether the attack was a robbery or sexual assault, and if it was racially-motivated, detectives are questioning people who were around the park and its surrounding streets on Saturday night.
