Two Saudi Arabian sisters found dead in their unit in Sydney died in a suspected suicide pact after being cut off from their families months earlier, police allege.
Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, were found dead on June 7, 2022, in their Canterbury unit in the southwest of the city — some five years after fleeing their homeland and arriving in Australia with $5,000 to savings.
NSW police believe the couple locked themselves in the apartment from late February – shortly after they stopped receiving money – until early April, when they died, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Toxicology reports – ultimately inconclusive – found unusual levels of sodium, nitrate and fluoride in the apartment, with one report claiming police “strongly believe” the sisters died as a result of a suicide pact.
“There was a stream of money coming to them from their (family) that stopped in February,” a source told the Daily telegram. “Now we don’t know why it stopped, but it seems there was a fight with their family abroad.
“After that, they cut off communication with everyone.”
The new claims are in a police report to the coroner.
Asra Abdullah Alsehli, 24, (left) and Amaal Abdullah Alsehli, 23, (right) were found dead on June 7, 2022 in their Canterbury unit in the southwest of the city
Unusual levels of sodium, nitrate and fluoride were detected in ultimately inconclusive toxicology reports (pictured, the Canterbury apartment building where the girls were found)
The sisters received a final payment of more than $4,400 from family in Saudi Arabia on February 3, 2022.
Amaal, who was in charge of the funds, deposited $960 toward their biweekly rent and then transferred $2,000 to her sister.
The girls also drove a black BMW coupe, which usually costs more than $38,000.
Their rental agent Jay Hu revealed that the women were originally “good” tenants when they first moved in two years earlier and had evidence of “ample” savings before falling behind on rent in early 2022.
Building manager Michael Baird asked police to conduct a welfare check on the two women, who refused to open the door when officers arrived.
“Eventually the door was opened and the police showed up to ask the girls a series of questions,” he told the ABC.
“They said they were fine. They did not want police intervention. And the police left it at that.’
While it remains unclear what ultimately caused their deaths, multiple sources believe the girls had a falling out with their “well-connected” family.
They stayed in their apartment from late February to early April, spoke to their father only once and were visited by a NSW sheriff.
While it remains unclear what ultimately caused their deaths, multiple sources believe the girls had a falling out with their “well-connected” family in Saudi Arabia and were cut off
The sheriff told the young women they would be “thrown or evicted” from the Canterbury unit after falling behind on rent of about $5,000.
There were also three police welfare checks in the months before the girls were finally discovered, with mail piling up on their doorstep.
When the sheriff’s office returned to evict them in June, they found the bodies of the two girls in separate bedrooms of the first-floor unit.
Police found no evidence that the girls were being followed by a private investigator, as they had suggested to some of their friends.
Instead, sources with knowledge of the investigation believe the girls were aware of the dangers of returning to Saudi Arabia and decided to take their own lives.
Another source said the combination of chemicals found in the sisters’ bodies was undetectable two months later.
“Looks like it’s probably a suicide pact. They took a pill or something and have just enough for themselves because there were no traces of chemicals or anything else found in the unit, or anyone else coming in,” they told the Daily Telegraph.
Police do not plan to charge anyone for the deaths.
After coming to Australia in 2017, the sisters lived for a period in Fairfield, a suburb in western Sydney, where there is a large Arabic-speaking community.
In 2022, they applied for subclass 866 protection visas, which requires applicants to have arrived in Australia legally and have valid grounds for seeking asylum.
The sisters drove a black BMW coupe (pictured) that normally costs more than $38,000
In their applications, Asra claimed to be an atheist, while Amaal said she was a lesbian, the Australian newspapers reported.
Police were told that the sisters attended an all-girls queer event in January 2022.
Both same-sex relationships and atheism are strictly forbidden in Saudi Arabia, where the legal system is based on a strict interpretation of Sharia.
Reports published in Middle Eastern newspapers at the time of the shocking discovery said the sisters had renounced Islam.
The bodies of Amaal and Asra were returned to the Saudi kingdom last August.
A coroner will now be charged with determining the official cause of death.