Australia Australia - Amesha Rajapakse, 31, Westmead, NSW, 26 Aug 2014

[FigTree]

I wondered if Amesha took a handbag with her?
On the Parramatta LAC Facebook Page there are warnings earlier in August of the unprecedented rise in handbag snatches.
https://www.facebook.com/ParramattaLAC

Police Alert:

Due to a number of bag snatches recently committed within Parramatta LAC, the following Safety tip is a pertinent reminder that you need to be vigilant at all times when out and about:

• Stay, if possible, to major routes and roads and don’t take short cuts if it can be avoided
• Use footpaths that are well lit and not closed in by bushland or obstacles
• Stay in groups of people
• Change direction if you think you are being followed and seek a safe place
Always tell someone close to you where you are walking to or from prior to undertaking the trip
DO NOT carry your laptops, iPhones etc if possible whilst you are walking. And… DO NOT walk with ear phones in as this is a perfect situation where criminals will target the unwary.

The list exposes that Amesha may have been at risk of the dangers associated with such an assault.


Its not only those who are walking - there is also this warning:

Keep your car doors locked.
August 11, 2014 at 3:00pm
Parramatta is experiencing a spate of bag snatches at the moment in the vicinty of Northmead, Constitution Hill and Toongabbie areas. The offenders are targeting females on their own. They approach the vehicle which is stopped in traffic and open the passenger door and take the handbag which is usually left on the passenger seat. On one instance the occupant of the vehicle was threatened with a knife before the hand bag was stolen. Be aware of anyone approaching your vehicle when stopped in traffic and keep your car doors locked at all times.

There is a heightened sense of vulnerability for women in the area - I did not see another post saying that the PLAC had arrested anyone involved with these incidents.

 

[they'll get you]

Several years ago I was stopped at a set of red lights on Parramatta Road Auburn when a man 'flicked' my passengers side door, thankfully it was locked! He calmly walked back to the footpath and kept walking. Confused at first, I realised my handbag was sitting on the passengers side seat. I was stopped/blocked in traffic-I couldn't leave my car in the middle of a busy road to chase a man. I think many women drive with their bags sitting on the seat
It's a been a habit of mine ever since my father told me to always lock my doors.
The worrying downfall is it's harder for someone to get me out of a burning car. :thinking:
Sorry for being off topic but it could help someone one day.
Also ALWAYS remove the keys when at a petrol station!!

 

[Xantara]

The images I have hopefully successfully attached to this post, show the perimeter fencing for the complex.
Backing onto the creek area, it is the colorbond fence. The height is apparent from how the police officer is standing, on his toes, peering over it.
Backing onto the railway line, it appears to be a hedge. I wonder whether there is some other form of fencing behind the hedge, or whether the hedge is THE fence??
In the photo with the colorbond fence, at the right hand side it is apparent that the fencing changes to the hedge type, and there is a low wall surrounding the garden bed, in which the hedge grows.
If Amesha did indeed climb the fence of her own accord, I wonder whether she might have done so at this point, by stepping onto that low wall first??
Speaking for myself, I'm quite uncoordinated with manoeuvres like fence climbing, so I could still see myself getting stuck, even if I did step onto the low wall!
Pity it was raining, but I hope the police fingerprint dusted the fence, to see whether they could find any of Amesha's prints on the fence. (Mind you, I think fingerprints are only useful, if there is a point of comparison. I don't imagine she'd have a criminal record, but I wonder whether there might have been cause to fingerprint her by the Immigration Dept etc as part of a procedures for all immigrants???).
If I'd attempted to climb over that fence, at the very least I imagine I would have scratched myself - either my hands, arms or legs. Don't know how Amesha was clothed that day, but perhaps some DNA might have been detectable...???
If she did commit suicide in that creek, then I imagine it would have happened sooner, rather than later, after she was seen in the foyer. I don't imagine her having wandered around anywhere else far beforehand.
Anyway, I'm sure the autopsy results will have revealed how long she had been in the creek for.
Still, just a bit hard to picture her going about it in this way, if that were what happened.

 

[catswhiskers]

I'm really confused about where Amesha was actually found in relation to the fences and walls around the property. Is that just me?
Also Xantara, don't forget that they don't need records of Amesha's fingerprints - they have Amesha herself to compare with But yes, it would be interesting to see if her hand prints were anywhere on the fences/walls nearby - indicating that she climbed and lowered herself over.
I'm still wondering if she was mugged by a stranger or similar? Though we haven't heard anything about a bag or purse being missing (or found with her for that matter). Until we hear or see anything different, I also question the reports of her looking worried or agitated in the foyer. That is surely open to a lot of interpretation on the part of whoever made that claim - maybe she was trying to decide whether or not to head out into the bad weather or darkness on her own? I'd be super nervous about walking into the night to go to the store, if that is what she was planning to do. To any of our new Sri Lankan posters here - would that normally be a concern to other family members - would you expect that her father for instance would be worried about his daughter walking on her own in Sydney? I can think of plenty of other Australian dads who wouldn't like their daughters heading out into the night by themselves.

Jost popping out random thoughts here - sorry to blather on :blushing:

 

[Keshi]

We all carry burdens. Some problems are small and some are just too overwhelming. I've been there on both sides and but for the Grace of God go I.
In hindsight I wonder how in the hell did I get through some unscathed but I realise I stayed strong because my children needed me.
I wouldn't be strong enough to suicide so I took the 'easy' road and confronted the problem face on.
I wonder if Amesha couldn't find employment and was feeling defeated.

At the back of the complex at the car park there is a colour bond fence, then to the right of that looks like a mowed lawn area leading down to the creek. I can't find the picture but I wonder if that access is safety fenced.

Agree totally. And sometimes that burden becomes heavier than life.

If this is a suicide I really feel horrible that Amesha probably had nobody to talk about her worries with. Even if she did, sometimes nothing/nobody can ease the pain. The lack of her mother being mentioned in the articles suggests she did not have a female family figure in her life either. It kind of makes it hard for a young woman like her battling life's challenges with all male figures in the family. I never could imagine being in her shoes. Sounds like she led an isolated life. Life is hard. Harder for some others.

According to her brother, her world was 'small'. That struck a cord somewhere. For some reason I did not like that line. Don't know why.

 

[Xantara]

I'm really confused about where Amesha was actually found in relation to the fences and walls around the property. Is that just me?
Also Xantara, don't forget that they don't need records of Amesha's fingerprints - they have Amesha herself to compare with But yes, it would be interesting to see if her hand prints were anywhere on the fences/walls nearby - indicating that she climbed and lowered herself over.
I'm still wondering if she was mugged by a stranger or similar? Though we haven't heard anything about a bag or purse being missing (or found with her for that matter). Until we hear or see anything different, I also question the reports of her looking worried or agitated in the foyer. That is surely open to a lot of interpretation on the part of whoever made that claim - maybe she was trying to decide whether or not to head out into the bad weather or darkness on her own? I'd be super nervous about walking into the night to go to the store, if that is what she was planning to do. To any of our new Sri Lankan posters here - would that normally be a concern to other family members - would you expect that her father for instance would be worried about his daughter walking on her own in Sydney? I can think of plenty of other Australian dads who wouldn't like their daughters heading out into the night by themselves.

Jost popping out random thoughts here - sorry to blather on :blushing:

Catswhiskers, I'm fairly sure Amesha was found behind the fence the police officer is looking over. Where all the trees are behind that fence, is where the creek is.
Earlier on, someone was wondering whether Amesha could have been lying in the creek, from one of the balconies of the complex. I can't really imagine that being the case. In the pictures from Google Maps, it looks like the trees and creek are fairly close behind that fence, and with such a 'heavily wooded area', as one of the early msm reports referred to it, I doubt you could see anything under the trees from up above.

 

[Oddsocks]

I wonder if she had life insurance?

 

[Xantara]

I wonder if she had life insurance?

Good question Oddsocks.
I'd kind of be surprised if she did, though. My feeling is that people with families normally take out life insurance, so there is something left for them if the/one of the bread winners pass away. Based on an assumption that Amesha may not have been working, I also wonder if she'd have been able to afford life insurance.
Interesting, though, that she apparently enquired about the gym and swimming pool only a couple of weeks earlier. Would someone contemplating suicide really be interested in that??
It hasn't been mentioned that she actually went as far as using those facilities. Perhaps something came up for her in the interim?
That report of police investigating whether she was the same person who had been 'reported missing' a few days earlier, though, was likewise weird.
There are so many hypotheses both for and against what might have led to her fate...

 

[Oddsocks]

I'm really confused about where Amesha was actually found in relation to the fences and walls around the property. Is that just me?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdBv5QWiNys
In this video at 40 seconds shows the police carrying Ameesha's body. Maybe someone clever could work out which car park they are taking her to and that could possibly give a clue? I'm also confused.

Eta I think I see the tower thing from the video in the top car park. Then this isn't really near the tunnel?

 

[Oddsocks]

Actually I think that might be another tower thing in the bottom car park. Who knows....

 

[Oddsocks]

Their unit does overlook the bottom car park and small grassy triangle area next to car park.

 

[Keshi]

I'm still wondering if she was mugged by a stranger or similar? Though we haven't heard anything about a bag or purse being missing (or found with her for that matter). Until we hear or see anything different, I also question the reports of her looking worried or agitated in the foyer. That is surely open to a lot of interpretation on the part of whoever made that claim - maybe she was trying to decide whether or not to head out into the bad weather or darkness on her own? I'd be super nervous about walking into the night to go to the store, if that is what she was planning to do. To any of our new Sri Lankan posters here - would that normally be a concern to other family members - would you expect that her father for instance would be worried about his daughter walking on her own in Sydney? I can think of plenty of other Australian dads who wouldn't like their daughters heading out into the night by themselves.

Jost popping out random thoughts here - sorry to blather on :blushing:

Great points there catswhiskers!

You are absolutely right in wondering if Sri Lankan parents would worry about one of their kids going out at night. Trust me Sri Lankans parents must be the most overprotective parents in the world Bear in mind I can't speak for every Sri Lankan family but generally we are an over-cautious bunch. Sri Lankan parents are overly concerned about their kids to the point it can be quite annoying, and that is because of the way the culture is and how parents are obsessed with their children having a good reputation in society and for staying out of trouble.

I was rather quite surprised that both Amesha's father and brother didn't have any problems with her going out on a cold rainy night just to get butter and milk. It didn't sit well with Lankan culture and values at all. A Lankan family is very close and connected the parents would actually go out at night to drop/pick up even their grown up kids to and fro Uni, shops, parties or wherever. An outing of a girl on a rainy night when there are 2 older male family members is unusual by Lankan cultural standards and family values.

I have lived here for so long and even to date, my family will not let me go out at night to the shops to get something urgent by myself let alone to get milk and butter. Even though I drive. Forget walking! And it's not like milk and butter is something we can't live without for a day or 2? Or get the very next morning?

It still puzzles me why the brother could not pick it up on his way back home or why Amesha didn't take her dad with her to the shops, as it was night time too. Also what are the brother's working hours? He said he called home at 7ish that night. And then again after an hour, which would mean 8ish? So he works late? If he kept calling her so many times, when was he planning to come home that night?

Most important question here: WHY did he call Amesha that night? What was the reason. It was almost time for him to come home after work (unless he works night shifts), so what's the reason to call Amesha that night in that short span of time between work and home. Surely it can't be for exchanging common pleasantries.

Also he said he last spoke to Amesha on Monday. So from Monday to Tuesday night, he did not see or speak to her? That sounds a tad out of line. A family member living in the same house not having exchanged a word with Amesha for almost 24hrs?

Did her brother or someone call her on her mobile once 'before' she left the house? Was that call the reason why she left the house? In agitation, nervousness, rage or whatever. Then, was she waiting downstairs for the brother or that someone else, hence the going in and out the door. When the brother called her mobile an hour later, could that call have been staged for some reason? Would she have died by then, within that hour, and being dumped in the creek?

One other question: WHERE did the brother go looking for Amesha first the moment he realised she was missing? Was it the nearest bush land or shops?

Just pondering upon different scenarios. Not accusing anyone.

 

[Oddsocks]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7x1jcIMFpU
This is mostly all new footage I've never seen before, even though it's 4 days old.

 

[Ausgirl]

Just finished catching up -- and let me offer my welcome to the chorus, for those new members posting here. The insights into Lankan culture are incredibly helpful, thank you so much for them.

I think my main reason for surmising this was not a suicide is that I have a very hard time believing anyone would throw themselves into 3 feet of water and force themselves to stay under while they drown, when there's busy roads nearby, probably train tracks and also high buildings... Of course I have no insight into Amesha's mental workings, but if -I- was distraught and seeking a way out of life, it would NOT be making myself drown in freezing cold, shallow water after climbing a high fence in the rain, traversing a dark and scary place and negotiating thick plant life to get there... It all just seems a bit unfeasible to me, and very very undignified.

Now, if Amesha was *chased* so that she had to clamber that high fence and then run into the bushy creek area to save herself, okay, I can see that happening maybe.. which also would make sense of how she also ended up dead on the other side of that fence.

Or attacked, and somebody felt the powerful need to make her death look like a possible suicide..

Keshi, I believe we are sympatico, in regard to things which are not sitting easy with this case.

 

[Keshi]

Just finished catching up -- and let me offer my welcome to the chorus, for those new members posting here. The insights into Lankan culture are incredibly helpful, thank you so much for them.

I think my main reason for surmising this was not a suicide is that I have a very hard time believing anyone would throw themselves into 3 feet of water and force themselves to stay under while they drown, when there's busy roads nearby, probably train tracks and also high buildings... Of course I have no insight into Amesha's mental workings, but if -I- was distraught and seeking a way out of life, it would NOT be making myself drown in freezing cold, shallow water after climbing a high fence in the rain, traversing a dark and scary place and negotiating thick plant life to get there... It all just seems a bit unfeasible to me, and very very undignified.

Now, if Amesha was *chased* so that she had to clamber that high fence and then run into the bushy creek area to save herself, okay, I can see that happening maybe.. which also would make sense of how she also ended up dead on the other side of that fence.

Or attacked, and somebody felt the powerful need to make her death look like a possible suicide..

Keshi, I believe we are sympatico, in regard to things which are not sitting easy with this case.

Excellent thinking there Ausgirl!

It is the same reason why I can't quite imagine this is a suicide @ believing anyone would throw themselves into 3 feet of water.
However, much water is not required for someone to drown. Technically a person can drown in as little as a cup of water. A cup, a puddle, a ditch, a bathtub - and that means 3 feet of shallow water is more than enough to do the job.

But not many people would know this. We always imagine drowning can happen only in deep water or in a large body of water. If I was thinking of ending my life by drowning, it would make sense to me that jumping off a cliff/bridge into a large pool of water would guarantee a quick and easy death, because as we believe the higher the size and depth of the body of water the higher the probability of being drowned. Right? So yes you're absolutely correct in suspecting Amesha's drowning is unlikely to be a suicide because she was found in a shallow creek.

But it could also be that she hanged herself from the bark of a tree or some hook on the wall, and it broke and she fell into the water. The 'thin shawl' that the news articles kept referring to may have been used for self-strangulation or for hanging? We don't know at this stage but it's a possibility. But that can be traced in the autopsy. If she was dead before she hit the water and/or if she was strangled etc.

Forensics of drowning is far too complex for us to understand. But, I read so many scholarly articles on drowning and this particular para drew my attention in regard to WHERE and HOW they found Amesha's body:

"If a victim is not promptly retrieved at death, then, without exception and no matter how deep or how swift the water may be, their corpse will continue to drift downward until it reaches the bottom. This is where it will remain in a somewhat fetal position until gases from putrefaction cause it to rise to the surface once more. A semi-fetal posture is the norm for all drown victims, so if divers do locate such a body before it ascends, but it isn’t in this pose and/or the head is seen to be tilted to one side, they will include these observations in their police recovery report, as it reveals the victim died on land and was put in the water post-rigormortis.

Typically, once the body does emerge on its own, it will surface in the general vicinity of where the victim originally went under. From this location the water may then carry the corpse along for quite a distance, depending on the strength of the currents or if it becomes ensnared and is thereby prevented."


So WHERE Amesha was found and HOW her body was positioned will be crucial clues as to HOW LONG she was dead for before her body was found, and IF SHE WAS DEAD before she hit the water. One of the Sinhala newspapers stated she was found 'floating' in a hard to get to area of the creek. Does that mean she was dead for a long time, because her body had reached the stage of floating? And would the fact that it was in a 'hard to get to area' suggest that the body has gone through the complete cycle of Drowning, and was carried along the water to this 'hard to get to' area? Leaving for us to calculate WHERE Amesha's body first hit the water?

 

[Xantara]

OK, this is a tech question, for any IT people out there!
Sometimes, particularly in the evenings, I've been noticing the websleuths page is particularly slow and the respective web browser tab keeps going through the 'Connecting...' motion every once in a while (regularly), even though I'm already connected.
When I look at the task bar at the bottom of the screen, I see information including 'waiting for...', transferring data from...' and 'connecting to...' a heap of (I don't know what you call the whole gamut of them), but one of them is 'dyldam.com'.
Dyldam bears a relationship to the Monarco complex, I think it may be the property manager or something like that.
What link could there possibly be between websleuths and dyldam??
Can anyone explain?

 

[Oddsocks]

Isn't Dyldam a construction company?

 

[Xantara]

Isn't Dyldam a construction company?

Yes, that's what it is.
http://www.dyldam.com.au/listing/property/search/get?type=1&category=2

They built the Monarco Estate.

 

[Xantara]

It could just be because some link on some page here has been taken from something originally published on a Dyldam page or something along those lines, but as this level of IT is beyond me, I am curious!!

 

[Oddsocks]

I'm pretty computer illiterate sorry Xantara. Others can probably help when they get on here tonight. They're a cluey bunch