So, this guy. 28-year-old Syed Maffi Hassan has been found guilty of murdering Pizza Hut waitress Atika Dolkifli, who is 23 years old. His method was twofold: He pushed her down a flight of stairs in Block 146A Toa Payoh Lorong 2, a carpark, where she hit her head after going down head-first. Then, as she lay groaning from her injuries, he picked up her body and threw her off the railing. He stole valuables from her bag and hid the body.
What sort of altercation caused such a violent crime?
According to a report by Channel News Asia, Syed and Atika were friends, so much that the latter was willing to loan the former an iPhone 5C as the former’s phone was not functioning. The problem with this was that the phone was damaged, and Syed had to pay for repairs if he wanted to use the phone. According to the report, he paid $125 for repairs on the phone.
There came a time when Syed wanted Atika to pay for the repairs he had on her phone, and went to her family to demand a larger amount of $300, which is $175 more than what he actually paid for the repairs.
When he was unable to get the money, he met with Atika on the rooftop of a parking space at 9:50 pm on May 21, 2015. There, they argued, and it eventually became physical, where he pushed Atika down a flight of stairs. He pushed the woman on her chest and she toppled down a flight of steps, hitting her head on the stairs.
He then pulled her up and dragged her by her armpits towards the railing of the carpark. She was groaning and heavily injured, but instead of helping her, he took hold of her by the collar and her trousers (possibly injuring or hurting her even more) and threw her off the side of the building, which eventually killed her.
After he had thrown her over the side of the building, he went through her belongings (her right shoe and her keys( and took her iPhone 6 Plus from her bag. He later disposed of the phone in a drain and threw away the SIM card.
What happened to Atika’s body?
The report said that passers-by found Atika’s body three days after the incident, when she was already decomposing. An autopsy revealed that she died from a head injury.
CCTV cameras in the parking space showed that Syed and Atika had arrived at the location together, but that Syed lad left 4o minutes later while carrying the handbag that Atika was holding when she went in.
Syed had also tried to lie about the crime and cover his tracks. When police investigations began, Atika’s brother received false information from Syed. The latter said that he had seen the man’s sister in Toa Payoh all alone at a muti-purpose hall, and that she “never returned.”
When the suspect had been evaluated for psychological or mental illness, none were detected.
