A decomposed body of a 34-year-old maid was found tied to a tree in September 2018 and as per the investigation, her husband is the prime suspect in the case.
The body of Jonalyn Alvarez Raviz was found not far from a footpath along Tampines Road. The suspected murderer, her husband Raju Dhaly had been working in Singapore as a maintenance worker. Raju is from Bangladesh and a day after his wife's death he returned to his native.
On Tuesday, August 27 during the coroner's inquiry into the death of Raviz, the court came to know that she was a domestic worker since October 2016 and got married to Raju in 2015. The prime suspect of the case used to live in a dormitory and the couple would meet every Sunday.
During that period, Raviz told her most recent employer that she was very unhappy with her marriage as her husband is extremely abusive and often took her salary. She also wanted to divorce him because of the extramarital affairs he had and planned to return home to the Philippines without informing him. The employer revealed that the Raju had reportedly threatened to kill her, if she left him.
As per the court documents, Raju boarded a train on September 2, 2018, at Clementi while carrying a yellow-strapped sling bag, while on the same day Raviz left her employer's house in Pasir Ris around 8.30 am and the couple met at Pasir Ris bus interchange around 9 am.
Later the duo was seen together walking out of Pasir Ris Park at around 3 pm. They went to the MRT station to take a train to Tampines and then took a bus.
From the Ez-link data, it was found that the deceased alighted from the bus around 4.20 pm on Tampines Road and at around 5 pm Raju took a taxi alone from Defu Lane 1 to reach his dormitory.
The colleague said that they saw Raju while returning to the dormitory but he wasn't carrying the bag.
He booked a flight ticket for Bangladesh for the next day and called one of his colleagues to inform him he would not be returning to the dormitory. Later, Raju's company also lodged a report after he failed to return to work.
When the police searched the forest area near Tampines Road, three days later after Raviz went missing, officers found her body and a yellow buckled strap which was around her neck tied to a sapling.
As per the post-mortem report, the cause of death was certified as being consistent with a compressive neck injury. Later when Raju's residence was searched they found the Raviz's blood on oiled jeans and sandals.
On Tuesday, the State coroner Kamala Ponnampalam stated that an arrest warrant for Raju has been issued, adding that in the circumstances, "I find Madam Raviz's death to be an unlawful killing, likely perpetrated by her husband."
