Dubai: Two years and two months after the gruesome murder of Lebanese singer Suzan Tamim, an air of ghostliness surrounds the apartment she once lived in.
Tamim, 30, was killed in her apartment on July 29, 2008.
Last Tuesday, Egyptian tycoon Hesham Talaat Mustafa was sentenced to 15 years in prison by an Egyptian criminal court for his role in the murder.
Driving through Jumeirah Beach Residence (JBR) to Rimal 1 was a breeze. Not only were we not stopped by the building's security, they actually helped us find the right entrance, without once questioning our motive for being there or asking who we wanted to visit.
Despite stating that entrance into a building on JBR is only through card access or being buzzed in by a tenant, the door was left unlocked and with no guards in sight, we were soon in the elevator en route to the now infamous apartment No 2204.
Haunted emptiness
We were met with leaflets and flyers scattered around the once-white doormat. A broken peephole and a malfunctioning doorbell later, we realised there was no one home. Following Tamim's savage decapitation, it comes as no surprise that no one has yet fancied cleaning up her mess and starting a new life in an apartment where Tamim's ended so dramatically.
In apartment No 2203, across from Tamim's, a new neighbour has just moved in. "I've been here two weeks and have never seen anyone enter or leave from 2204. That apartment appears to have been empty for a long time," he said.
There are two more apartments on the 22nd floor. Both lay empty, one with its door wide open. A look through reveals a two-bedroom apartment, similar to the one where Tamim spent her last minutes.
The neighbour in apartment No 2203 hadn't heard of what had occurred in the rooms behind the door opposite to where he now lives. The landlord had failed to inform him of the heinous crime that occurred just inches away from his front door.
