Autopsy shows Shabana was strangled

The autopsy also revealed she was unconscious when she was placed face down in the drain resulting in dirt being found in her lungs. Mohammed’s nude body did not have any marks of violence and it remained unclear if she had been sexually assaulted.

However, swabs were taken for further tests to determine if any sexual assault was committed and the results will be made available in due course. Weeping relatives were then escorted to a waiting area at the Forensic Science Centre to await the autopsy results.

Newsday understands a young man — said to be the son of a policeman — who was initially interviewed by officers at the time Mohammed was still missing, is to be re-interviewed by detectives of the Homicide Investigations Bureau.

Police are working on a theory that a man who began to stalk Mohammed after she ended a relationship with him, seized the opportunity last week Saturday when relatives left the teen home alone, to strangle her and then stuff her body inside a concrete tunnel drain at the back of her Akal Trace, Santa Cruz home.

Meanwhile, instead of celebrating their birthdays, Rafiq and Jameel Mohammed, the father and brother of Mohammed will today endure the agony saying a final farewell to her at her funeral. The pain of losing a child, Jameel said has led his father, who turned 64 yesterday, swore he would never again celebrate his birthday for as long as he lives.

“If he had his way, there would be no January at all for him,” Jameel told Newsday yesterday. “If you understand his thinking, this is the beginning of the year and today (yesterday) is his birthday. Right now, as far as my father is concerned, there are only 11 months in the year and he has cancelled all birthdays fort the rest of his life,” Jameel said.

He described his sister as a helpful and respectable young woman,who would do anything for her family. He added that she was a pleasant girl, who was always smiling. She was also a well kept girl according to the grieving brother. More prevalent than his grief over losing his baby sister, was the love that he had for her.

“I loved Shabana from the day she was born. When my mother gave birth to her and we were trying to find a name for her I said: I don’t know what allyuh going to do, I am going to call her Aliyah,” Jameel boasted. “We are a very close-knit family and everyone leans on each other for help. We will have to do that even more now so we could deal with this situation,” he said.