Parramatta stabbing: CCTV shows Prabha Arun Kumar minutes before fatal attack
Rachel Olding
Published: March 9, 2015 - 5:06PM
A woman who was fatally stabbed in the neck while walking home through Parramatta Park on Saturday night told her husband that a suspicious-looking man was following her.
Prabha Arun Kumar, 41, was on the phone to her husband in India when she was killed on a dimly lit walkway in what police suspect was a random attack.
Detectives released CCTV images on Monday afternoon depicting Ms Kumar walking alone on a well-lit concourse near Parramatta Station just minutes before she was confronted as she took a shortcut through a nearby park.
Dressed in casual work attire and speaking on the phone to her husband, she had just finished a double shift as an IT worker and was on her way home to Westmead.
The footage doesn't show anyone following her or acting suspiciously nearby, police said.
Her husband, named in Indian media as G. Arun Kumar, arrived in Sydney from Bangalore on Monday morning and was speaking with detectives about the phone call.
He was "extremely distressed", said Homicide Squad commander Michael Willing. "It was a terrible call to receive."
Ms Kumar's brother-in-law, Thrijesh Jayachandra, spoke to Mr Kumar just before he departed for Sydney and revealed to The Hindu that he heard his wife pleading with her attacker not to harm her.
"She was walking while talking to Arun over the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her," Mr Jayachandra told the paper.
"The next moment, he heard her scream for help and then plead with the man not to harm her and take all her belongings if he wanted. Seconds later he heard her scream and say she was stabbed.
"The call was cut abruptly."
Ms Kumar was stabbed several times in the neck and collapsed on the walkway. A passerby found her in a pool of blood and she later died in hospital.
Ms Kumar's pleas during the phone call suggest that she was stabbed by a stranger during a botched robbery, however Detective Superintendent Willing said police had not been able to confirm this theory.
"We are at a loss at this point in time," he said.
He said there was no reason to suggest it was a race-related attack or a targeted killing.
"There is no reason to believe she knew her attacker," he said.
He said detectives were releasing CCTV images of Ms Kumar in the hope that it would jog the memory of anyone who saw her on Saturday night.
Detectives have also spent the day door-knocking residents of Westmead, asking if they knew Ms Kumar and if they had ever seen suspicious activity in the park.
Detective Superintendent Willing has appealed for anyone who spoke to Ms Kumar, or anyone that knew her, to come forward.
"It's a horrific crime, a very, very disturbing crime," he said.
The 41-year-old mother, who worked for the IT company Mindtree, was planning to return to India in April after working in Australia for a few years.
Her nine-year-old daughter, who lives in India with her father, was being shielded from the news of her mother's killing, The Hindu reported.
Bharathi Jayachandra, Prabha's aunt, told the newspaper that Ms Kumar found it taxing to be away from her family.
"She complained that the work pressure was also severe and she planned to return home for good in April."
Yadu Singh, president of the Indian Australian Association of NSW, said he had asked the local police, council and Parramatta Park Trust to undertake an urgent review of the area between Park Parade, Parramatta, and Amos Street, Westmead, to identify any security blackspots.
"Lighting and CCTV facilities should be installed and improved if that is what needs to be done to improve safety and security of people in the area," he said.
Rachel Olding
Published: March 9, 2015 - 5:06PM
A woman who was fatally stabbed in the neck while walking home through Parramatta Park on Saturday night told her husband that a suspicious-looking man was following her.
Prabha Arun Kumar, 41, was on the phone to her husband in India when she was killed on a dimly lit walkway in what police suspect was a random attack.
Detectives released CCTV images on Monday afternoon depicting Ms Kumar walking alone on a well-lit concourse near Parramatta Station just minutes before she was confronted as she took a shortcut through a nearby park.
Dressed in casual work attire and speaking on the phone to her husband, she had just finished a double shift as an IT worker and was on her way home to Westmead.
The footage doesn't show anyone following her or acting suspiciously nearby, police said.
Her husband, named in Indian media as G. Arun Kumar, arrived in Sydney from Bangalore on Monday morning and was speaking with detectives about the phone call.
He was "extremely distressed", said Homicide Squad commander Michael Willing. "It was a terrible call to receive."
Ms Kumar's brother-in-law, Thrijesh Jayachandra, spoke to Mr Kumar just before he departed for Sydney and revealed to The Hindu that he heard his wife pleading with her attacker not to harm her.
"She was walking while talking to Arun over the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her," Mr Jayachandra told the paper.
"The next moment, he heard her scream for help and then plead with the man not to harm her and take all her belongings if he wanted. Seconds later he heard her scream and say she was stabbed.
"The call was cut abruptly."
Ms Kumar was stabbed several times in the neck and collapsed on the walkway. A passerby found her in a pool of blood and she later died in hospital.
Ms Kumar's pleas during the phone call suggest that she was stabbed by a stranger during a botched robbery, however Detective Superintendent Willing said police had not been able to confirm this theory.
"We are at a loss at this point in time," he said.
He said there was no reason to suggest it was a race-related attack or a targeted killing.
"There is no reason to believe she knew her attacker," he said.
He said detectives were releasing CCTV images of Ms Kumar in the hope that it would jog the memory of anyone who saw her on Saturday night.
Detectives have also spent the day door-knocking residents of Westmead, asking if they knew Ms Kumar and if they had ever seen suspicious activity in the park.
Detective Superintendent Willing has appealed for anyone who spoke to Ms Kumar, or anyone that knew her, to come forward.
"It's a horrific crime, a very, very disturbing crime," he said.
The 41-year-old mother, who worked for the IT company Mindtree, was planning to return to India in April after working in Australia for a few years.
Her nine-year-old daughter, who lives in India with her father, was being shielded from the news of her mother's killing, The Hindu reported.
Bharathi Jayachandra, Prabha's aunt, told the newspaper that Ms Kumar found it taxing to be away from her family.
"She complained that the work pressure was also severe and she planned to return home for good in April."
Yadu Singh, president of the Indian Australian Association of NSW, said he had asked the local police, council and Parramatta Park Trust to undertake an urgent review of the area between Park Parade, Parramatta, and Amos Street, Westmead, to identify any security blackspots.
"Lighting and CCTV facilities should be installed and improved if that is what needs to be done to improve safety and security of people in the area," he said.
