The woman whose body was discovered yesterday morning near a shopping centre in Melbourne‘s north has been identified.
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Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports the woman has been identified as 21-year-old Israeli citizen Aya Masarwe, a Palestinian Arab student at Shanghai University who had been living in Melbourne as part of a study program.
“She was an excellent student, full of life,” Masarwe’s uncle Abed Katane told the outlet.
“She wasn’t in a very dangerous country at all, and yet we are still receiving such a painful message.”
The Israeli consulate and the nation’s foreign ministry are preparing to have Masarwe’s body returned home, Haaretz reports.
The Age reports investigators are waiting for the woman’s family to formally identify the body.
Victoria Police state passers-by discovered the woman’s body outside Bundoora’s Polaris shopping centre, near Main Drive and Plenty Road, around 7am yesterday.
Authorities are investigating the possibility she was sexually assaulted before her death.
Investigators state the woman may have been followed after getting off the Route 86 tram some time after 11pm on Tuesday.
Anyone who may have seen suspicious behaviour on that tram, which has a stop some 100 metres away from where the woman’s body was found, has been urged to contact police.
Police are also canvassing residences in the area seeking anyone with information regarding the woman’s death, and have asked anyone with further information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
If you would like to talk to a counsellor about rape, sexual assault or domestic violence, give the people over at 1800 RESPECT a call on 1800 737 732.
