Woman found murdered in Brisbane's Kurilpa Park named as French university exchange student Sophie Collombet

Updated

Police say they are continuing to scour security footage in an attempt to find the killer of a French student who was murdered in South Brisbane last week.

The naked body of Sophie Collombet was found by a passer-by in a rotunda at Kurilpa Park near the William Jolly Bridge last Friday morning.

The 21-year-old was a business student at Griffith University.

Her body was formally identified yesterday, and police said she suffered extensive head injuries in what they described as a "brutal" attack.

Detective Inspector Rod Kemp says the murder follows the death of other foreign students in Brisbane in recent months.

"It's disgusting," he said. "For someone to be brutally attacked in this manner, it's just disgraceful.

"We believe the cause of death is from a brain injury from blunt trauma, so it's a particularly aggressive attack.

"We are a safe society, I believe. But now this is the [fourth] international student [to be killed], and of course it's a concern to us."

He says police are still looking for suspects.

"There are a number of persons we wish to speak to who were in and around Kurilpa Park on Thursday night, Friday morning," he said.

"We're working around the clock to hopefully bring the person to justice."

Police have been doorknocking buildings in inner Brisbane and say they have questioned several witnesses in Quay Street, including the residents of a unit.

A backpacker operator said detectives searched the hostel over the weekend and asked him to identify a photo of a man.

It is understood police are also collecting CCTV footage from Quay Street.

Police divers searched parts of the Brisbane River yesterday in the search for clues and several other leads are being investigated.

Police say they have worked closely with consular officials to contact Ms Collombet's parents.

Detectives want anyone with more information to come forward.

Foreign student deaths in Brisbane

Ms Collombet is the fourth foreign student killed in Brisbane since late last year.

Last month, Singaporean student Meenatchi Narayanan, 27, was found stabbed to death in a hotel room at the Travelodge at Upper Mount Gravatt on Brisbane's south side.

Police have charged a 31-year-old man with her murder.

In November, the body of 22-year-old South Korean student Eunji Ban was discovered in parklands in Brisbane's CBD.

Ms Ban had been in Australia on a youth exchange for just six weeks before her death.

She was walking to work as a hotel cleaner in the Brisbane CBD when she was attacked early on a Sunday morning.

A 19-year-old man was charged over her murder.

Less than a month later, police found the body of another South Korean student in a shallow grave on a property at Algester, in Brisbane's south-west.

Min Tae Kim, 28, was in Australia on a working holiday, and was last seen in December last year at his home at Cannon Hill in Brisbane's south-east.

His flatmate told police Mr Kim had arranged to exchange $15,000 for Korean currency with someone he met online on the afternoon he disappeared.

Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says he is "troubled" by the killing but insists the city is safe.

"I believe it's safe not only for students but safe for Brisbane residents," he said.

"I'm obviously very sad and troubled by this latest case and I hope the police can catch someone as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, Queensland Tourism Minister Jann Stuckey says she does not expect the murder will affect international visitor numbers to the state, despite the murders of four foreign students in the past six months.

Ms Stuckey says her heart goes out to the woman's family.

"But I have to say that Brisbane and Queensland and my beloved Gold Coast are still some of the safest places to work and holiday," she said.

"That is further enhanced by our strong focus on tough law and order measures that have brought in by the Government."

Queensland Tourism Industry Council (QTIC) spokesman Daniel Gschwind also says the murder is unlikely to deter overseas visitors from visiting Brisbane.

Mr Gschwind says Queensland is still considered a safe destination.

"I think there's a difference between random acts of mindless violence like apparently this has been, and the other cases we've had," he said.

"When we're talking about random acts of violence, it's not necessary to go out with messaging - we have to give our customers around the world a bit more credit.

"We all witness and hear of these incidences around the world and we put it in context and we understand whether there's something systemic going on or not. There's really nothing systemic going on here.

"But there is a human tragedy and we have to show compassion and react as a concerned community should."

Map: The body was found in Kurilpa Park

Topics: murder-and-manslaughter, crime, law-crime-and-justice, south-brisbane-4101, france

First posted