I've just created this account to comment on here. I think the last time I really read this forum was the Chris Brahney case in Manchester about five years ago. Like that case, this one's left me with that removed, disconnected feeling where I find myself staring out the window a little more every day. I don't think there's any shame in some tragedies resonating more. You can say others are forgotten – and that's true, and that's a sad but human reality – but this has hit me.
I'm a man from Australia of similar age. I've travelled to the UK, to Europe, to the US and save for a month here and there where I've rendezvoused with mates, I've done it solo. Girls I know, girls my age do that same thing too: girlfriends, sisters, friends. It's a normal thing and a rite of passage.
I've felt the soaring 'whoooooaaah' while your plane flies onto a brand new continent and you see the trees and streets and can't wait to get down onto the ground and see it all for yourself. She too had that. And the breakdowns of a missed train, the anger of some annoying, dirty in the dorm. Showers not working. But then making memories with transient, two-night-long friends. I've used tinder to try and go out and meet girls. You know, that's travelling.
Even those people in her dorm, apparently two other girls and a guy. It's pretty easy to just come and go and not realise if a person has been home or not – you can easily miss a dorm mate even on longer stays – but imagine being told. I'm sure you'd relay those innocuous 'so, where ya from? How long have you been travelling?' conversations for a long time. I couldn't imagine how sick, sad, and introspective that would get you... seeing her passport, her backpack... that would hit me.
Sorry for that. Very self-indulgent. But it hits me and I can't imagine the fear she probably felt when the reality of the situation set in but I really hope she didn't have to confront that.
Anyway, I don't know if I'll log back in here so I'll make all my points and make them as brief and simple as possible. I hate the amount of disinformation masquerading as fact on forums like this, completely does my head in, so I'm trying to work things out. Cheers. So:
– People have mentioned Grace's Tinder account was still visible. How did people find this out? How many days of inactivity does it take for your account to disappear?
– Were Tinder, facebook, instagram possibly used in tracking down the accused? All three are either owned or use facebook log-in information. I wonder if they could get into her account and get a timeline or if they already have? The reason I ask is that police alerted the girl who was due to meet up with the accused and let her know what'd happened. The only way you could do that is by having access to Tinder accounts.
– Why are people now saying he wasn't staying at CityLife permanently? I thought it was confirmed his grandmother had given him money to live in one of the apartments in the complex? Why are people now saying he'd just booked a room for the weekend?
– Will we find out when they met, how they met, and what they did on the night? Seems she left the hostel about 7pm and they went to his at 9:41pm. Seeing as all maps indicate all (known) points of interest were within a block or two, that'd mean they were (drinking) together for probably an hour and a half, two hours-ish. It's interesting but unsurprising that he's been able to charm women, but together with her pink band (I lean toward this being a 'free drink' or pub crawl access thing given to her by the hostel, as opposed to a club... who goes clubbing before 9? And clubs in the antipodes use stamps), I wonder if they were going back there to grab a drink or something?
– I personally do not think this was premeditated. To me, he's one of those tough exterior, very easily broken interior young men: they're gentle with women but as soon as they get the flick of rejection, they turn angry. These guys feel entitled to women and think being nice, or two hours of drink buying, entitles them to sex.
– Why has this automatically been pegged as murder? Isn't that risky in terms of a trial? For it to be murder, wouldn't they have to have proof he lured her into his room with the explicit intent of murdering her? That seems insanely, insanely cold. The bloke seemed weird and off-kilter but that sort of planning is something else. Why are they so confident it went this way, as opposed to something that'd result in manslaughter?
