Touching News | "Go home and hug your mother and your family" : Aiia Maasarwe's father
Aiia Maasarwe's father broke down in tears on Monday at an Islamic prayer ceremony for his daughter who was allegedly raped and murdered as she walked home after a night out in Melbourne last week.
Hundreds of Muslims, many of whom didn't know the 21-year-old exchange student, attended the Albanian Islamic Centre mosque in Dandenong at sunset to pay their respects.
While men came together in prayer, women in a side room washed, powdered and wrapped Miss Maasarwe's body before it is repatriated to Israel for an Islamic burial.
Speaking to reporters at the ceremony, Miss Maasarwe's shattered father Saeed said he prayed for every student to be able to get home safely and hug their parents.
'I can talk from the depth of my heart, the depth of my pain,' he said.
'I pray for all the student, all the child - everyone can go safely everywhere and can go home to hug his mother and his father and his family.
'This is what we want to see, to see the world with more peace, more safety and more smile and more forgive each other and more accept each other. I talk in my voice, but this is Aiia's mind.'.
He then thanked the Muslim community for supporting him at the ceremony. 'I am safe here with these people and they care about me, and they are beside me, and they support me,' he said.
After the ceremony, Miss Maasarwe's body was placed in a hearse. On Tuesday afternoon, her father with a nephew and a friend will fly back to Israel for a burial service.
Ms Maasarwe's body was found half-naked near the Polaris Shopping Centre, in Bundoora, on Wednesday morning after she was allegedly attacked while walking home the night before.
A Palestinian with Israeli citizenship, she had moved to Melbourne on a one-year exchange program to study at La Trobe University.
Her father and sister Ruba Maasarwe flew to Melbourne following the attack and both gave emotional statements to the media as they waited for Ms Maasarwe's body to be returned from forensic testing.
Miss Maasarwe's cousin Bacher earlier said the family were desperate for her body to be returned to the Middle East so she can be buried.
'We don't want to get into politics, we want to speed up the process for her. They have finished the body autopsy. Our request is humanitarian,' he said.
Her uncle Abed Ali Kattani said the delay in burying Miss Maasarwe was hard to cope with for the family. 'When you bury someone you have a relief, so we focus on the body and the burial,' he said.
Another of Miss Maasarwe's uncles, Dr Ahmed Maasarwe, said it was important she had a funeral soon.
'In order to respect the dead, you need to bury her, that's how it is in Islam. as long as she is between the sky and the earth, she will not reach heaven,' he said.
Alleged killer Codey Herrman, 20, was arrested on Friday after finding him with a group of friends in a rotunda at a nearby park.
He appeared briefly in Melbourne Magistrate's Court on Monday, his second appearance since being charged with the alleged attack.
Herrmann made no application for bail at the brief hearing, during which the prosecutor withdrew an application for a compulsory procedure, likely a DNA sample.
Prosecutor Jonathan McCarthy requested specific details of the alleged attack on the Palestinian Arab of Israeli citizenship be withheld until police have been able to give them to the 21-year-old's family.
'The informant wishes to have that dealt with in a sensitive manner before it's given to the media,' he said.
Magistrate Jonathan Klestadt approved the move because it would be 'confronting' for the family to be made aware of details through media reports. Herrmann's lawyer Guillaume Bailin did not make any submissions or note any custody management issues.
Mr Klestadt, however, noted Herrmann was Aboriginal and 'may be vulnerable because of your age and appearance'. Herrmann, who has no fixed address, has not been in custody before.
Police have been granted 12 weeks to compile their brief of evidence. Herrmann's court appearance came as a collection of poorly written lyrics seemingly scribbled on old shopping dockets were discovered tucked under a blanket in a filthy bedroom at his house.
'I always got your Back Jack Dont believe me watch me punch on in the city off my chops knockin (sic) the lights out of any heavy by myself, bringing in empty bullets to impress at show an tell,' he wrote.
The lyrics were found in a squalid bedroom at Grimshaw St in Bundoora, in Melbourne's northeast, alongside a tube of fungal skin infection cream, smashed tiles, a modem and a boxcutter.
The house itself was strewn with filth and rubbish and stank like animals had been living inside. A fifth page is signed-off by 'MC Codez' alongside what could be an album title noted as 'The Bunyip'.
It remains unclear why the crumpled lyrics, found by Daily Mail Australia at Herrmann's home, were not collected by forensic police who searched the home last week.
'This is it I quit swear to god its time to hip hop away an loose all control again,' he raps. 'Listen dont be trippin on me mate. Your Mrs has a taste for beef beef which I hate.'.
Herrmann appears to address a lost love in the lyrics, rapping how someone helped him forget 'Alana'.
'See its usually when your at your best when you make a mess an like me regret even listening to what they said coz I already know that Im next coz my only word of advice is show love and be geed when the boys show up our noise gonna pop these ear drums.
Run n***er run,' he writes. One sheet of paper appears to outline a proposed gig by Herrmann, broken down into 'levels'.
Song titles include 'Bunyips Magic Ciggerette', 'Broken Dreams' and disturbingly 'Grade A Student'. The former residents also appeared to be fans of country music star Willie Nelson, with discarded CDs found in the lounge.
In his dingy rear bedroom, Herrmann allegedly penned his angry lyrics.
'You know I did this to myself how the f**k could you ever help jus the same as everyone else how hard is it to tell I've given this my all, an any hip hop devil or rap god gonna fall if they try to stand in my way,' he wrote.
Herrmann raps about drinking a 'long neck' of beer in the middle of the road and being abandoned by his mates. 'Where the f**k did my homies go.
Guess the old crews dead or jus so juiced from the meth brah are you dead in the head how the f**k do you not regret all those codez you just said,' he wrote.
Herrmann penned that he 'lives on 7 cones' and later is 'in to deep with 'Frosty'.
Drug f**ked spitten bars which leave you star struck haha yeah no Im still thinkin about alana bra the f**k Im supposed to do. Need to drop a few tracks as soon as possible,' he wrote.
'I've tried to stay strong an hold my head up high but the only one who coulda saved my life chose right.
'Now noones by my side incept for sid an frosty ITD. 2 grams of meth but f**k amphetemine. baby were already moving them crazy. Its time to f**kin party.'. Herrmann signs off declaring hip hop is his only true love.
'Ill hip hop to the top this biz is the only bitch I love. Herrmann is due to reappear in court by video link for a committal mention on June 7.