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Thursday 24 Apr 2025
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Raudh Ahmed Zilal walks up the stairs of H. Fentenoy on April 18, 2025.
The police have publicized CCTV footage taken in the leadup to a young woman’s fall from a Male’ building last weekend, as well the identities of the group of people who were found to have been with her.
21-year-old Mariyam Yumnu was found injured on the rooftop of a warehouse in the Henveiru district at around 07:23 am on Friday, April 18. According to the police, their investigation uncovered that she fell from a skylight on the ninth-floor stairwell of the adjacent building, H. Fentenoy, but that there was no evidence of foul play.
On Tuesday, the police told reporters in a closed-door briefing that Yumnu had attended a “party” in a house locate in “central Male’” with a group of eight other people before her fall - five men and three women.
But while the police disclosed Yumnu’s identity, they declined to disclose the identities of the other eight people who were with her, including the man who is believed to be the last person who was with her before her fall. His face had been blurred in the video clips screened by the police.
The first house where the “party” is believed to have taken place was later confirmed by Transport Minister Mohamed Ameen as his family residence. Ameen admitted that two of his nephews were among the group of individuals involved, but denied he knew anything about the “gathering.”
This, as well as the allegations that those involved were relatives of influential individuals, fueled allegations of a police coverup.
But in a sudden reversal of their stand on Thursday, which came nearly a week after Yumnu was found injured on a rooftop, the police publicized the identities of the other eight people who had been with her, as well clips from CCTV footage from inside H. Fentenoy.
They are:
The police confirmed it was Raudh who had gone into H. Fentenoy with Yumnu.
The press briefing in which the information was disclosed was led by Commissioner of Police Ibrahim Shujau.
According to police, the group of nine had gone to Ma. Maandhooge Dhekunuge – the residence of Ameen as well as his nephews Izdhiyaan and Yoosuf Ahmed Akram – at around 12:30 am.
They left the house at around 03:40 am, and four of them, including Yumnu and Raudh, enter ed a house located in front of STELCO in Ameenee Magu at around 04:00 am. They are seen exiting the second house around 10 minutes later. Yumnu and Raudh, both of them barefoot, are then seen entering H. Fentenoy, a nearby building located in Buruzu Magu. The video clips screened by the police appear to show both of them behaving erratically as they wandered up the building. Yumnu appears to have trouble walking and even falls down at one point.
The police said they believe both were intoxicated at the time.
According to police, they tried to enter the terrace of the building, which they said was locked, and are then seen on CCTV getting intimate in the stairwell. Raudh is also seen taking off his t-shirt at some point and giving it to Yumnu to wear.
According to police, camera footage later appears to show them looking for each other.
However, the police said that there weren’t any cameras on the ninth floor – from where Yumnu fell. One of the clips screened by police shows Raudh on the stairs on the eighth floor at around 04:25 am – which is the moment the police believe she fell.
Police said he rushed out of the building following unsuccessful attempts trying to find her.
Responding to speculation that Yumnu wouldn’t have landed where she did if she had fallen from the skylight, Shujau said that investigators had established that the spot where she was found is consistent with where a person would fall if they fell from the ninth-floor skylight.
Police said that they have now applied for a court warrant to arrest Raudh, and now have no-fly orders against all seven.
Responding questions over why there hadn’t been any arrests, Shujau said it was because the police might not be able to finish the investigation and submit the case for prosecution within 30 days as required by law when an arrest is made.
