Samia Malik death: Why did international student, 20, ‘pray’ on highway in the middle of the night? STEPHEN GIBBS reveals woman’s romantic and financial struggles before her shocking hit-and-run

DAILYMAIL.COM • 1h ago

By STEPHEN GIBBS, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA 15:11 14 Oct 2026, updated 16:00 14 Oct 2026

A young Pakistani international student run down and killed while appearing to pray in the middle of a South Australian road was heartbroken after a break-up and struggling financially.

Samia Malik had been kneeling on North East Road at Hillcrest in Adelaide’s north-east for approximately four minutes when the 20-year-old was struck by a car about 11pm on May 6 last year.

The driver of the car, Ashton Friend, avoided jail last Friday when he was sentenced in South Australia’s District Court for causing Samia’s death and leaving the scene of the accident.

Judge Anne Barnett said CCTV footage showed Samia’s hands were in what looked like a ‘praying motion’ in the moments before she was killed.

No explanation was provided as to why Samia might have been praying in such a dangerous location and a well-placed source described that prospect as ‘ridiculous’.

The Daily Mail can reveal Samia was having financial problems and had recently been forced to end a brief relationship with a young Pakistani man.

It is understood Samia had been working part-time as a security officer and met the man through work but his family did not approve of them being together.

A prominent member of South Australia’s Pakistani community said Samia’s family had been unwilling to discuss the circumstances leading up to her death.

Her parents had travelled to Adelaide for their daughter’s funeral and burial but had returned without offering public statements.

‘They were very tight-lipped about what caused that poor girl to be on the road,’ the well-placed community member said.

‘Everybody wanted to know why she was there in the first place, to know what caused the accident.

‘The safest we can say, and what we heard from different sources, was that she was under lot of stress financially, and there was her involvement with a boy as well.

‘What I heard is that the boy’s parents didn’t agree, so that was added pressure. And that boy is now married to someone else.’

As for the suggestion Samia had been praying when she was struck by Friend’s vehicle, the source said the idea was ‘absurd’.

‘What we know is that she was changing position on the road,’ he said. ‘Sitting on one corner and then sitting on the other.

‘The [claim] that she was kneeling down as a prayer gesture, it was not correct. That was ridiculous.

‘All around the world, Muslims pray like that – they kneel down.

‘[It was suggested] because she was Muslim, she might be praying, which is totally absurd.

‘She was just under stress, just trying to sit down, not to pray.’

The source said the main cause of Samia’s troubles appeared to have been a lack of money.

‘First was financial,’ he said. ‘Because she was a student. They have to come up with the fees and look after themselves. The part of the world they come from is not always supportive financially.’

The source said it might never be known exactly why Samia put herself on the roadway in the path of Friend’s vehicle.

‘The best source would be the family, but they didn’t talk to us,’ he said. ‘They didn’t share a single thing.

‘That’s like the culture of somebody from Pakistan. Something happens to the female of the house, they immediately become secret.’

Another senior figure in South Australia’s Pakistani community said Samia came from a ‘good family’ but they did not wish to engage with their local countrymen.

‘Maybe they don’t want to disclose but they didn’t give us any of what happened,’ he said.

‘That’s someone’s personal matter. It’s not good to interfere with someone’s personal matters if they don’t want to disclose.’

‘Nobody has answered what went wrong with her. Overseas students face a lot of challenges. They have to do everything on their own.’

Samia’s older brother Zaheer Malik, who lives in Sydney, launched a GoFundMe appeal to cover his sister’s funeral expenses which quickly raised $30,974.

Zaheer said he was writing ‘with a shattered heart’ as he described Samia being ‘killed in a horrific hit-and-run in Adelaide’.

‘She was walking – just walking – when a driver hit her and drove away, leaving her on the road,’ he said. ‘CPR couldn’t save her. She died alone in a foreign country, far from her family, far from home.

‘She came to Australia with dreams, with courage. She was an international student, studying hard, paying her own way through university.

‘No work cover. No insurance. Nothing to protect her, no help in death, just like there was no one to help her in her final moments.’

Zaheer said his family wanted to lay Samia to rest ‘in a place where she can be remembered, surrounded by friends and loved ones’ but did not have the means to pay for her funeral arrangements.

‘Every moment without her feels like the world has stopped,’ he said. ‘Our family is in pieces. There are no words for this kind of grief.’

Friend pleaded guilty to causing death by careless use of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident.

The 20-year-old had been driving home from his girlfriend’s house when he struck Samia and was ‘at a loss’ as to what had happened, which was why he failed to stop.

Defence barrister Jane Abbey KC told the court last month her client had not been aware ‘there was something on the road’.

‘He heard this noise,’ she said. ‘What he hoped was that it had been an animal, or something like that.’

Ms Abbey submitted that due to the limited damage sustained by his car, Friend assumed he had not struck a person.

‘He was checking his rear vision, but he did not see her – he should have,’ she said.

‘Initially, he just did not realise he had hit a person.’

The court heard Friend realised what had happened when he saw news reports about Samia’s death which sent him into a ‘state of paralysis’.

He was identified by police a week later and arrested.

‘He just could not reconcile what he had done’, Ms Abbey said.

The court heard Friend was not affected by drugs or alcohol and was not speeding when he killed Samia.

In an apology read to her family, Friend said he could ‘only imagine the indescribable pain’ they were feeling.

‘I will have to carry my failures with me for as long as I live,’ he said.

‘I am deeply sorry for the life that was lost, the grief and the trauma caused to Samia’s family and loved ones.

‘There is no excuse for my actions, or my failure to act – and I should have acted. I do not place responsibility on anyone else; it is mine alone.

‘I take full responsibility for my actions and their consequences. I stand before this court with genuine remorse and a commitment to reflect on, learn from and be accountable for what I have done.’

Judge Barnett served Friend a suspended sentence of one year, three months and 29 days with a non-parole period of eight months, and placed him on a good behaviour bond for two years.

Samia’s sister Qudisya Malik, who lives in Victoria, remembered her late sibling as ‘a remarkable young woman’ in a victim impact statement provided ahead of Friend’s sentencing.

‘Grief has become part of my everyday life and there are moments where the pain feels just as fresh as it did on the day we lost her,’ she said.

‘Every important milestone reminds us that someone deeply loved is missing. There is always an empty place where Samia should have been.

‘Nothing can ever replace Samia. We have lost a daughter, a sister, a friend and a remarkable young woman who had so much life ahead of her.

‘Samia will always remain part of our family. She may no longer be physically with us but she continues to live on in our hearts.’

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