Man, 20, is arrested for the rape and murder of 21-year-old Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe after he attacked her as she was walking home in Melbourne

A 20-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the rape and murder of a 21-year-old Israeli student who was brutally raped, burned, and knifed in Melbourne.

Aiia Maasarwe, 21, was on her way home from a night out that involved a comedy gig in Melbourne. She was so scared of the walk from the tram stop to her student accommodation that she would call one of her sisters while walking to feel safer.

That Tuesday night was no different. She called one of her sisters on FaceTime after getting off a tram. As they spoke, she was attacked and the phone suddenly dropped. Her sister was still on the phone and heard the entire attack unfold. She called police immediately, even as she was listening to the ‘horrific, horrendous’ assault on her sister.

Sadly, by the time police arrived, they fond her partially naked body in parkland near a shopping centre on Wednesday morning.

A 20-year-old suspect was arrested on Friday, January 18, in a park in the Melbourne suburb of Greensborough while hanging out in a shelter with a woman and a group of young guys. Neighbours said they saw plain clothes and uniformed police arrest the man about 11.20am after approaching him while he was in a rotunda at Pioneer Park. 

The shelter at Pioneer park where the suspect was arrested on Friday is a known hang out for local youths who smoke drugs. 

The suspect was identified as a person of interest after police carried out a forensic test on a hat and blood-stained T-shirt left at the crime scene. 

Detective Inspector Andrew Stamper said it was believed to be a ‘random attack’.

On Friday afternoon, Miss Maasarwe’s father arrived at the scene of her murder. He was pictured crying as he admired tributes left on the ground. 

Ms Maasarwe had been studying Chinese and English at Shanghai University but moved to Melbourne six months ago to study at LaTrobe University.

Mourners gathered at Latrobe University, Melbourne, for a vigil in the memory of slain international student.