Cabin crew girl ‘killed by jealous boyfriend’

 

The jealous ex-boyfriend of an Emirates air stewardess murdered her and her two siblings before dumping their bodies in a jacuzzi, prosecutors in Australia have said. Max Sica is accused of strangling Neelma Singh, attacking her brother and sister with a pitchfork and then dumping them in the family spa to destroy forensic evidence. Dubai-based cabin crew member Neelma allegedly told her family that Sica had bombarded her with phone calls and texts urging her to return to her home country of Australia. Her family told the Supreme Court in Brisbane that Sica turned violent when he feared Neelma was seeing another man. "She was scared of him," Neelma's mother told the court. In a twist to the case, which started last week, defence lawyers were able to prove that Neelma had stayed for a month on a holiday island with Sica when she was supposed to have returned to her job in Dubai. She then turned up at the family home in Brisbane pretending she had just returned from the UAE so that the family would not know she had been with Sica, whom they despised. However, Sica allegedly became more and more threatening in the days following the trip and started stalking Neelma. The prosecution alleges he forced his way into the family home while her parents were on holiday, strangled the 24-year-old and beat, stabbed and bludgeoned Kunal, 18, and Sidhi, 12. The murders occurred in 2003 but the police took years to complete their case in one of the biggest investigations in Queensland history. In a case full of twists and bizarre detail, defence lawyers showed that Neelma's father, Vijay, flew into a rage after discovering she had called Sica many times from Dubai. She later told her family that she wanted to return to Australia for a break because her Dubai roommate had a drug problem. But when she returned, she went on the holiday with Sica. Defence lawyers have shown that Neelma's father, Vijay, had numerous affairs and was violent towards his family. Neelma had once emailed Sica, asking him to beat up her father, they said. However, Vijay strongly rejected defence lawyers' claims that he hired a killer and framed Sica for the murders. An Emirates spokeswoman said that the airline would not comment on ongoing court proceedings involving a former employee.