Family of woman murdered in Chinatown seek help to transport body ‘home to ancestors’
The family and friends of a young Sudanese-Australian woman believed murdered in Melbourne’s Chinatown have reached out for help in getting her body returned to South Sudan.
The body of 33-year-old Natalina Angok was found in Chinatown in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Later that same day her boyfriend Christopher Bell, 32, was arrested and charged with her murder.
The pair had reportedly been together for a year and a half.
Ms Angok, who lived with one of her brothers in Geelong, had migrated to Australia for a better life. She had been one of five siblings whose only living parent was still in her birthplace of South Sudan, The Age reported.
According to prominent lawyer and Sudanese-Australian community leader Maker Mayek, Ms Angok “was well known in the South Sudanese Community here in Melbourne. She met her fate in the hands of a man who was supposed to protect her. But of course, her name isn’t probably as important to attract a public outcry and a vigil.”
On Friday evening he shared a GoFundMe page set up by the young woman’s family, asking for help in transporting her body home to South Sudan “to rest with her ancestors”.
“Natalina Angok was our sister, our daughter, our cousin, our friend. She was a shining light and her life was taken away from her at just 33,” the GoFundMe page read.
“Natalina was a generous and kind girl; her selfless, friendly, loving and humble character has always drawn people to her. She would alway seek the happiness of others….
"We still can’t believe we won’t see her again.”
The page went on to add that Ms Angok’s family were needing help to pay for her memorial and to “fly her remains back to South Sudan” for a final tribute by her father and relatives who had “not seen her in years”.
In a matter of hours the GoFundMe had raised over $3,500 towards its $40,000 goal.
‘Where are the vigils for Natalina?’
In the days since Ms Angok was found dead, many have been left questioning the lack of public outrage over her death compared to the outpouring which met the recent murders of Eurdyice Dixon and Aya Masarwe.
In the hours following the identification of Ms Angok as the young woman found in the alleyway off Little Bourke St, Twitter user James Hearnes posted: “People of Melbourne and surrounds, here’s a serious question… Where are the vigils for Natalina Angok?
“We saw vigils for Eurydice Dixon in June 2018. We saw vigils for Aya Masarwe in January this year. Where are the vigils for Natalina?”
On Friday evening, two days after her death, 100 people attended a silent vigil for Ms Angok on the steps of the Victorian Parliament in Melbourne.
Attendees sat together in silence to remember the young woman allegedly murdered at the hands of her partner.
Co-organiser of the event, Karen Pickering said Australia as a society had badly let Angok down.
"She came to Australia from Sudan via a refugee camp in Kenya to a place she probably thought was safer. There is something that makes that just so much more tragic,” she told AAP.
According to advocacy group Destroy the Joint, which keeps a “national toll” of Australian women killed by violence, Ms Angok is the 17th woman to die under such circumstances in 2019.
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit www.1800RESPECT.org.au.
In an emergency, call 000.
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