Laura Vanessa Nunes
Laura Vanessa Sykes died in Dubai, in November 2014, under circumstances that had triggered controversy.[1][2] In May 2015 Sykes died from a fall from a height. It was widely reported that she jumped from the 148th floor of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. Local authorities assert, however, that she fell from the 14th floor of another building, the Jumeirah Lake Towers, a twenty minute drive from the Burj Khalifa.
Sykes was a massage therapist, with joint South African and Portugese citizenship.[1] At the time of her death she was living in Dubai, on a tourist visa. She was reported to have been looking for work.
According to her mother, Laura Sykes Sykes had begun an affai with a Dubai businessman, in 2011, and had converted to Islam.[1] According to her mother, Sykes jumped during a moment of despair, after her lover broke off their relationship. Her mother described a surviellance video from a public observation deck, which showed Sykes exploring a hole designers had left in the deck's barriers, designed to let photographers stick their cameras outside of the building's envelope, then retreating from the barrier, and then advancing on this hole, and being able to slip through, to her death.
Sykes's mother asserts Dubai authorities are trying to cover up that her death occurred at the Burj Khalifa, because it detracts from its value as a tourist destination.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Rebecca Perring (2015-05-19). "Is Dubai trying to cover-up woman's death from top of world's tallest building?". Express (UK). http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/578320/Woman-suicide-Burj-Khalifa-Dubai-mother-cover-up. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
- ↑ Laura Connor (2015-05-18). "Heartbroken woman jumped from the world's tallest building after split from wealthy businessman". Daily Mirror. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/heartbroken-woman-jumped-worlds-tallest-5717016. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
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