Prabha Arun Kumar’s husband heard her cries for help as she was brutally murdered in a western Sydney park just weeks before the couple were to be reunited in India.
The 41-year-old was talking on her mobile phone to her husband, who lives in India with their 10-year-old daughter, when she was stalked and then attacked on Saturday night.
Police say they have no idea who killed her.
Detectives have spoken to Mrs Kumar’s husband, who has arrived in Australia, to help piece together what happened.
“She was walking while talking to Arun (her husband) on the phone when she said that a suspicious-looking man was following her,” Mrs Kumar’s brother-in-law, Thrijesh Jayachandra, told The Hindu newspaper.
“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.”
He learnt of his wife’s death when he landed in Sydney on Monday morning.
Mrs Kumar had finished work at tech firm Mindtree and had been taking a short cut through Parramatta Park to her Westmead home when she was set upon.
A local found her at 9.30pm, 300m from her home.
She was rushed to Westmead Hospital where she died about three hours later.
Superintendent Michael Willing has appealed to the public for help.
“We are really at a loss at this point in time as to who may be responsible,” he said.
Police will release CCTV footage of Mrs Kumar walking from Parramatta train station towards the park in the hopes it will jog the memory of those who saw her that night.
The footage didn’t appear to show anyone following the victim when she left the station about 9pm, he said.
“It’s a horrific crime; (she) was killed in a very vicious way,” Supt Willing said.
It’s believed Mrs Kumar was stabbed in the neck on the path through Parramatta Park that cuts between a golf course and a high school.
Results from a post-mortem examination should be ready on Monday afternoon or early on Tuesday and will hopefully give police a lead.
Mrs Kumar had been working for Mindtree since 2012, but was planning to return to India in April because she missed her husband and daughter too much.
“It was taxing for her to stay away from family,” Mrs Kumar’s aunt Bharathi Jayachandra told The Hindu.
“She complained that work pressure was severe, and she planned to return home for good in April.”
Mindtree general manager Anoop George said her colleagues were devastated.
Locals have left flowers and tributes on the path where she died.
“My prayers are with you and your family. Lots of love. Mary,” one tribute said.
