Heartbroken Woman Jumps From The World's Tallest Building, Nobody Notices
It was another one of those cases of unrequited love that has gone awry. One lovelorn woman took her life by jumping from the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, after a failed relationship with her GCC-national boyfriend, the Mail Online reports.
Laura Vanessa Nunes, a 39-year-old South-African passport holder who was able to obtain a tourist visa in Dubai, jumped to her death from the viewing deck of the tower located on the 148th floor. The victim's body fell 1,640-feet high and down onto a terrace of a restaurant located on the third floor.
The incident took place back in November, and has gone unreported from the local media, until now. The mother of Ms. Nunes, Leona Sykes, travelled to Dubai from the South Africa to seek answers over her daughter's untimely death.
Mrs. Sykes cannot believe it, how one can commit suicide at a top tourist attraction so easily. She also vented her frustration over the refusal of the Emaar Properties, the developer behind the Burj Khalifa, to answer her queries regarding the incident.
Meanwhile, Leona was able to get a hold of the CCTV footage from the Dubai Police. It revealed that Nunes walked into the glass panels on the observation deck, and had her second thoughts, but eventually decided to push through on jumping off. She slid her head into an opening, which was designed for tourists to have a view or take pictures through, tilted her body and slipped into it.
The victim's mother has also shown concern over the possibility of missing out on some important clues as to what really transpired during the times leading up to her daughter's suicide, The Mirror also reported. The Blackberry phone found on the body was returned to her without its SIM and memory cards.
Mrs. Sykes had vouched for the character of her daughter, insisting that she was "good-hearted." She admitted, though, that her child was vulnerable and has suffered from insecurities since she was a child, due to a congenital facial flaw.
"She was born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, which created a lot of insecurity for her. She was teased as a child. She had surgery to correct it, even in her early 30s," she said.
Leona also said that her daughter has a fascination for the Arabs and their culture, which might have led her to converting to Islam (adopting the name Noora), and eventually into the unhappy relationship. "She was besotted with him. But he didn't love her as much as she loved him."
In another twist to the story, the Dubai police authorities are now contending reports from the western media regarding the November 2014 suicide incident from the Burj Khalifa, the Gulf News UAE wrote. Major General Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, assistant to the Dubai Police Chief for Criminal Investigation Affairs, argued that Nunes did fall to her death, but from the Jumeira Lakes Towers, and not from the 148th floor of the world's tallest skyscraper, which the Daily Mail article is claiming.
The police official said that the investigation suggests the woman jumped out of her Jumeirah Lake Towers residence on the 14th floor, without foul play or any criminal activity involved. He corroborated the report that Nunes was in bad shape emotionally and psychologically, taking her own life after her unsuccessful relationship with the affluent Emirati businessman.
As soon as the legal procedures were completed, the victim's body was repatriated back to her family, Al Mansouri added.