Suspect in rape, murder of Arab Israeli student in Australia pleads guilty
Father of Aya Maasarwe says he’s glad Codey Herrmann ‘cannot hurt any more people’ but that the family has lost ‘the most important thing in this life’
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The man suspected of raping and murdering a 21-year-old Arab Israeli student in Australia earlier this year pleaded guilty to the charges in a court hearing Friday, according to Australian media.
Codey Herrmann, 20, will face sentencing at a later date.
Aya Maasarwe’s father Saeed told 9News he was glad that Herrman “cannot hurt any more people, not take the life of more people” and was “in the jail where he should be.”
Saeed Maasarwe said his daughter’s death was with him “all the day, all the night, all the time, any place you go… We lose the most important thing in this life.”
He added: “It’s not easy, we tried to continue the normal life… We tried the maximum as we can: sometimes successful more, sometimes successful less but the life, we need to continue. We don’t have another choice.”
Aya Maasarwe’s body was found by passersby near a tram stop in Australia’s second-largest city, Melbourne, on January 16, hours after she was attacked on her way home.
Maasarwe, of Baqa al-Gharbiya, had been studying at La Trobe University in Melbourne for five months as an exchange student from Shanghai University in China, and was attacked while speaking to her younger sister in Israel on FaceTime.
Herrmann is an aspiring rapper who had performed in the past as MC Codez.
Maasarwe’s grandmother described the murdered woman as “a flower who was cut down,” according to Channel 12 news.
The student’s murder shocked Australians and sparked a huge outpouring of grief that saw thousands attend gatherings in her memory, and raised questions about the safety of women on public streets.
While in Melbourne to retrieve his daughter’s body, Saeed Maasarwe said he was “very surprised” and comforted by the outpouring of support, and called for more forgiveness.
“This is the message we want to send. We want to make the world more peace and more safety, and more beautiful, and more smile, and more forgive each other,” a tearful Maasarwe told reporters.
“It’s not from me, this is Aya. I talk in my voice, but this is Aya’s mind,” he said, adding that he wished people would “see the light in the dark… and not be in the dark.”
The Times of Israel Community.