Aussie cops confirm death of Pinay in Victoria

Police in Victoria, Australia said that DNA tests conducted have confirmed that the body found stuffed in a garbage bag in the suburb of Springvale before Christmas last year, ABS-CBN Australia News Bureau reported Wednesday.

Bureau chief Gigi Grande said DNA tests confirmed that 51-year-old Luvina Dayang was the Asian woman found in an empty house on View Road. Dayang’s body was beaten, then stuffed in a garbage bag.

“The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem has put the cause of death down as neck compression, [which means she died by] strangulation,” Det. Sgt. Michael Engel of the St. Kilda police said.

ABS-CBN News sources, meanwhile, said the murder suspect is a Filipino.

Police declined to confirm this, saying that a “person of interest” would be arrested any day now.

News of the murder came as a shock to Filipinos in Springvale, an area that is more Asian than Australian. According to locals, it is known for good Asian food and bargain buys and notorious for drug-related crimes.

Dayang had no family and close friends in Australia. She came Down Under in 2006 as an illegal to make a living for her family in the Philippines.

The Filipino community, meanwhile, vowed to help.

Philippine Consul General Raul Hernandez said Filipinos are organizing a special Mass for Dayang and are planning to raise funds to help her family.

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