Protest erupts in Male' demanding justice for woman who fell from building

A protest has begun in Male' calling for justice for a young woman who fell from the ninth floor of a building onto the roof of an adjacent warehouse and to arrest those involved in the incident.

A 21-year-old woman was found on the roof of a warehouse in Henveiru on Friday morning which sparked public outrage over the way the investigation was carried out by the police.

These include the fact that the young man last seen with the woman testing positive for drugs but no further action was taken except to ban him from leaving Maldives. In addition, the others in the case were not tested for drugs and their identities were not disclosed.

A large number of youth gathered near Henveiru police station area tonight and protested calling for fair and just investigation.

The youths are holding placard with various slogans demanding equal treatment and justice for all.

According to the police, the woman fell from a 9th floor stairwell window (fanlight) while heavily intoxicated. They said that, so far, no evidence has been found to support allegations of rape circulating on social media. The police also noted that, although some have claimed political involvement, the eight individuals who went to the initial house with the woman are not in political positions.

Police shared all the information at a closed press briefing held Tuesday night regarding Friday's incident. Although the identity of the injured youth was revealed, police did not respond to any questions asked by press to share the names of those alleged in the case. Police did not disclose the identify anyone else.

Some video footage of events of the night were also shown to journalists at the briefing. As seen in the footage, the victim and a man, identified only as a 21 year old Maldivian, were walking on the streets barefoot.

The footage shows the woman entering a residential building on Buruzu Magu. The man runs after her and follows her inside. Their actions, as seen in the footage, indicate that both were in a state of intoxication, with their actions unsteady as they walked down the street.

The two entered a building identified as H.Fentonia, which Police say the two have no known connection to. Police believe that the two entered the house solely because the door was unlocked despite no one they know living in the said house.

H. Fentonia is a building equipped with a modern security system, with CCTVs and a motion detector which causes an alarm to go off if any activity is recorded after 12am. The footage shows the two being in the stairwell of the house on floors 7, 8 and 9. They are also seen to knock on the doors of some apartments.

Police said that the footage they received show the two engaged in sexual activity in the stairwell, although no such footage was shown to media. The footage, however, shows the woman later wearing the t-shirt that the man had been wearing when they entered the house, with the man then being shirtless.

Wearing the man's shirt, the woman climbs to the 8th floor. She knocks on the door of the apartment on the 8th floor and then proceeds to go up to the 9th floor. It is believed that she was trying to find the man she had been with.

A short while later, the man goes up to the 8th floor. This was at about 4:52am. When he fails to find the woman on the 8th floor, he starts to ascend the stairs to the 9th floor. While he is still on the stairs, a loud noise is heard. Police said that investigations so far indicate that this was the sound of the woman falling from the 9th floor stairwell window.

At the time the loud bang was heard, the man was still on the stairs leading up to the 9th floor.

The 9th floor of the building leads to the terrace, but the door accessing the terrace had been locked. There are no CCTV cameras either on this floor. Hence, there is no footage of the woman falling. However, Police said that their investigations show that the woman had fallen through the stairwell window, with her having been discovered on the roof of an adjacent warehouse which aligns with her having fallen from this window.

Police Inspector Mohamed Samih stated that there is no evidence that the woman had been pushed out of the window, with no such indications having been seen on the CCTV footage as well.

There were no persons besides the two at the scene of the incident at the time, and the footage shows that the man had still been on the staircase at the time the woman had fallen.

Samih said that a number of people had heard the loud crash when the woman had fallen. However, no one saw the woman on the roof at the time due to lighting, foliage, and other factors.

The fallen woman had been seen in the morning, with Police receiving reports at 7:23am on Friday morning. The woman was conscious at this point, but was unable to move due to injuries sustained, Samih said.

The woman was taken to the IGMH that day and is being treated in the ICU since then. However, no details of the injuries have been made public.

The CCTV footage also shows the man looking for the woman after she had fallen. He can also be heard crying loudly. Police said the man had exited the building and appealed for help from people on the street. He, however, left the area and returned home without reporting anything to Police.

Therefore, protesters said that ignoring someone who falls and not extending help or reporting it to the police is like leaving someone to die. It is a criminal offense and the case should be investigated, the protesters have called.