Woman’s fall on roof possibly self-inflicted while under influence: Police

According to Maldives Police Service, the young woman who was recently discovered on top of a roof had fallen there on her own and may have been under influence.

Police received report of a woman who had fallen on top of a roof sometime on Friday morning. The woman has been identified as Hawwa Yumna, 21 years.

Before police could provide confirmed details about the case, the public began speculating that the woman might have been pushed off of a building.

Following public speculation, police held a press briefing on Tuesday evening where they provided updates on the case. The authority had shared CCTV footage that captured her fall as well as the house from which she fell.

According to police, Yumna was accompanied by seven others on the night of the incident which included three women including her and five men. All eight entered a house located in the central parts of Male’ City around 00:30hrs and exited around 3:40hrs.

Four of them had entered a residence in Ameenee Magu around 4:00hrs Yumna and another man is seen coming out of this house 10 minutes later, and the man who was accompanying her is seen talking another individual later.

Both Yumna and the man are then seen entering into another house in the nearby vicinity, which had no connection to them. The two can be seen on the staircase of the house committing indecent acts. Police said they were under intoxication at the time, while the man had tested positive for narcotic substances after he was arrested.

Preliminary results of the woman also tested positive for presence of narcotic substances, police added.

After Yumna fell on the roof of the neighbouring house, the man who accompanied her had come to the location, which was around 4:52hrs of Thursday early morning. The man was topless at the time he came to the incident location.

The CCTV footage had captured the man’s cries after the woman had fell, and he is seen trying to look for her. He is later seen leaving the scene after he was unsuccessful in finding her.

The incident was reported to police by a member of the public.

Police revealed they had to conduct a facial recognition test to identify the victim due to the injuries she sustained. She was treated at intensive care of Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) at first, but she was later transferred to a different ward after she stabilized.

Police have confirmed it has issued a no-flying order on the man.

Law enforcement has not questioned some of the individuals allegedly involved in the case, while two of the men who were with Yumna earlier on the night of the incident had refused to conduct drug tests on them.

Police added that though they have reasonable grounds to believe all of them may have been under influence, it has not been ascertained fully.