Police gain access to alleged murderer's phone in hunt for motive
More than 45 people were questioned and CCTV footage from various places linked to the case has been analysed.
By
Shahudha Mohamed
Ali Shahil, arrested for the alleged brutal murder of a woman in a house in Male, has not cooperated with giving access to his mobile phone, but a forensic team has now accessed the phone and are hoping to get more evidence from it, police announced Saturday.
Shiau Mohamed Saeed, 22, a native of Fuvahmulah, was found decapitated and beheaded inside the apartment on the ninth floor of the H. Shireen Villa in Male on the night of 6 August.
Shahil, 23, residing in a room in the same apartment, was arrested from the crime scene for allegedly murdering Shiau. Police had earlier said he was under the influence of drugs at the time of his arrest.
At a press conference held by the police on Saturday, Superintendent Hassan Saeed who heads the police's Serious and Organised Crime Department, said:
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During the course of investigation, Shahil had not given his phone’s password
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The phone was accessed with the joint efforts of police forensics and a foreign party
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The phone's extraction data will be available early this week
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Police believe that information on the phone will shed more light on the case and provide enough evidence to establish the cause of Shiau’s murder
He said that the police have now found a plausible reason to why Shiau was murdered, but more evidence is needed as the case cannot be sent to trial on the basis of what is believed alone. The superintendent added that there was not much cooperation from Shahil in the investigation of the case, but that he was communicating with the investigating team.
Replying to a question from Atoll Times, police inspector Mohamed Samih said that there was enough evidence to charge Sahil with first degree murder, and that he believed that the case could be filed in court as deliberate homicide.
During the course of investigation:
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More than 45 people were questioned and CCTV footage from various places linked to the case has been analysed
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Data on various digital sources are being collected and analysed for forensic examination
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The police are working closely with the Prosecutor General's Office; it is expected that the case will be forwarded to the PG office in the next couple of weeks upon completion of the investigation.
The police received provisional results of the post-mortem conducted from India on 17 August. The autopsy report confirms that the body had been severely injured after the girl had died, police said Saturday.
