The Russian girl who was found dead in Paceville had fought with her friend the night she went missing and they had gone their separate ways, The Times has learnt.
The site remains unfenced with nothing in place to stop people from tumbling about 20 metres down into the valley
Polina Rahman and her friend had arrived on July 15 to learn English for two weeks. However, her friend left two days after Ms Rahman went missing when she already had been questioned by the police who were still looking for the missing teen, sources said.
The body of Ms Rahman, 17, was found in a valley adjacent to Villa Rosa, bordering Pembroke, last Tuesday, a week after she went missing.
An autopsy revealed she died from a fractured skull sustained in a fall.
The sources said that as the police searched for the young woman, last seen in the early hours of July 17, they spoke to her friend who said she had had an argument with Ms Rahman on the night of July 16. Following the argument, they went their separate ways.
That night they attended the welcome party for their school, Education First (EF), at Cabanas Club in Paceville.
The following day, the friend, who was meant to remain in Malta for two weeks, left on the advice of her father, sources said. At that stage, Ms Rahman was still considered missing. The sources said the police were treating the case as an accident and did not suspect foul play. The police believe Ms Rahman had been walking along Prof. W. Ganado Street in Pembroke when she tripped and fell to her death in the valley below, remaining there until the body was found. The girl’s body was discovered just before 6 p.m. last Tuesday by foreigners alerted by a foul smell coming from a fenced-off area in the valley. The fact that Ms Rahman was unfamiliar with Malta and had been out late drinking could explain why she ended up so far away from her residence in San Ġwann where she was staying with a host family, a police source said.
But a week after the gruesome discovery the site remains unfenced with nothing in place to stop people from tumbling some 20 metres into the valley.
Residents of the area said they would like to see some form of fencing put up, now that it had been proven how fatal the drop could be.
Two women said that although they had lived in the area for many years, they never truly noticed the sharp drop in the area where the young woman was found dead. Further along the road the drop was sloped and not so deadly.
One woman, who hosts students in her home, said she recently had a 17-year-old Czech girl who was scared to go out after hearing what had happened to the Russian.
“She would just go to her lessons and back,” the woman said. She added that residents in the area had complained to the St Julians local council that something should be done to make the area safer.
For instance, abandoned rooms on the hill leading up to the road of the incident should be demolished. “They are open and unsafe. It’s easy to push a girl in and rape her,” she said.