Indian girl raped, murdered and stuffed inside suitcase in Aus

Natasha Chaku
Melbourne, Mar 14 (PTI) A 24-year-old Indian student
has been found raped and murdered after her body was located
stuffed inside a suitcase near a canal in Sydney last week.
"On 11 March morning, construction workers found the
suitcase containing the woman's body in a water canal near
Meadowbank Park and alerted police," said a statement issued
by the local police.
The victim was identified as Indian student Tosha
Thakkar and police were now waiting for the results of a
post-mortem examination to determine exactly how she died.
They have confirmed she was last seen alive on March 9.
Thakkar was studying accounting at the Sydney College
of Business and IT, which collaborates with Southern Cross
University, and was a permanent resident of Australia.
Friends and family of Thakkar told media that they had
no idea why she was killed.
The body of Thakkar was stuffed into a suitcase which
construction workers spotted in a canal near Meadowbank Park
as they were doing maintenance on an oil pipeline.
Police has arrested 19-year-old Daniel Stani-Reginald
in connection with the murder and the accused was questioned
by detectives and charged with murder and aggravated sexual
assault.
Accused Stani-Reginald, who lived close to Thakkar in
Croydon, was arrested at an Ashfield motel on weekend and
appeared via video link in Parramatta Local Court yesterday,
according to the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.
The court refused to grant him bail.
The accused glanced at the Indian students who poured
into the court in their dozens, filling the chairs and every
centimetre of floor space, and then bowed his head for the
duration of the hearing.
Charged with aggravated sexual assault and murder, he
did not apply for bail and it was formally refused, with the
matter adjourned to Burwood Local Court today.
Outside the court, the students held up a poster that
read "We want justice for our Indian international friend
Tosha Thakkar".
Anish Popli, the husband of Thakkar's first cousin,
said nobody had cause to attack her.
"She wouldn't hurt or harm anybody. She had been
living in Australia for three or four years and did not fit
the profile of a fresh-faced arrival vulnerable to attack.
"It's not like she's never been here - she knew her
way around," he said.
Southern Cross University extended its condolences to
Thakkar's family, friends and colleagues, a spokeswoman said
yesterday.
The university is providing counselling and support
services to students and staff.
According to local police official Pamela Young,
Thakkar's parents had not yet made plans to come to Australia
and police hoped to return her body to India for a proper
Hindu funeral service.
"I understand her father is very ill," she said.
Stani-Reginald, who is believed to be an Australian of
Sri Lankan descent, is alleged to have murdered Thakker last
Wednesday.
He is scheduled to reappear in court on May 9, Young
said.
The media reports said that police will allege that
Thakkar was murdered by a "predator" who waited until their
housemate was away to sexually assault and kill her.
The case was mentioned briefly in Burwood Local Court
today, but Stani-Reginald, who has been charged with raping
and murdering the 24-year-old last week, chose not to appear.