Jill Meagher’s widower Tom shares his fury over Aiia Maasarwe’s brutal murder in Melbourne

Six years after Jill Meagher’s death rocked Melbourne, her widower Tom has shared his fury over the murder of Israeli student Aiia Maasarwe.

They were both stalked by their attackers while on their way home from enjoying a night out with friends, before being brutally killed in the most tragic of circumstances.

Just over six years stand between the murders of ABC journalist Jill Meagher and international student Aiia Maasarwe. There are infuriating similarities between the deaths.

Ms Maasarwe, 21, had been at a comedy show on Tuesday evening, while Ms Meagher, 29, had just wrapped up after-work Friday drinks with colleagues.

Both were talented, ambitious and full of high hopes for their futures, adored by their family and friends, and had the world at their feet.

And like Ms Meagher, who made a call to her brother while walking home in the early hours of September 22 in 2012, Ms Maasarwe was on a video call with her sister in the moments before her attacker struck.

Both were close to home — Ms Meagher just minutes away from her apartment, Ms Maasarwe less than a kilometre from her campus dorm.

The fact that such a similar act can occur again — yet another example of unspeakable violence against women in Australia — was not lost on Ms Meagher’s widower.

International student Aiia Maasarwe was killed in Melbourne this week. Picture: Instagram.

Jill Meagher was murdered while on her way home from drinks with colleagues in September 2012. Picture: Supplied

He took to Twitter overnight to share his dismay at Ms Maasarwe’s senseless murder, which has rocked Melbourne and sparked fresh calls for urgent action.

“I am so thoroughly sick to my stomach of men murdering women,” Mr Meagher wrote.

“The human cost of male violence is staggering, the incalculable social trauma & human misery it engenders is soul destroying. It’s weight is intolerable.

“RIP Aiia and love to her family.”

Jill Meagher’s widower Tom has shared his fury at the murder of Aiia Maasarwe — yet another horrific example of violence against women.

Serial sex offender Adrian Bayley was sentenced to life in prison, with a 35-year non-parole period, for the rape and murder of Ms Meagher.

Police today arrested a man in connection to the alleged murder Ms Maasarwe.

Her devastated family are now preparing to take her body home while the city is planning to stop tonight for a vigil on the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House.

Melbourne comedian Eurydice Dixon was murdered last year — stalked and attacked on her way home.

Organiser Jessamy Gleeson, who helped thousands of people gather for a vigil for murdered Melbourne woman Eurydice Dixon last year, said it’s important Melburnians stand together.

Ms Dixon, 22, was walking home after a stand-up gig last June when she was raped and murdered — also stalked by her killer.

She had also text her partner along the way to say she was almost home — just 900 metres away.

Melbourne united in anger and grief after the death of Jill Meagher — just as it did last year following the murder of Eurydice Dixon and will tonight to remember Aiia Maasarwe.

A floral tribute continues to grow as the community morns the murder of Aiia Maasarwe. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Last year, to mark their 10th wedding anniversary, Mr Meagher penned an emotional and reflective tribute to his late wife.

In it, as well as sharing insight into the heartache he still feels, he shone a light on violence against women — an issue he has taken on over the past six years.

“In the war on women, (Bayley) exemplifies the extremist wing of the hateful and pervasive ideology of male sexual terrorism, but it’s the everyday spectrum of male violence that disturbs me even more,” he wrote.

“In a culture where the death’s of most women are not newsworthy, are so commonplace that they are seen as incidental, expected and simply inevitable, he certainly does represent the extremist wing.”