Aussies have reacted with sadness and outrage to reports that thousands of commuters may have walked past the lifeless body of a homeless international student near one of Sydney‘s busiest train stations.
Nepali national Bikram Lama arrived in Australia in 2013 to study computer science.
But instead of the dream life he envisaged, the 32-year-old fell on tough times after his student visa expired and he became estranged from his family back home.
He ended up sleeping rough in Hyde Park and the nearby St James station tunnel – a major thoroughfare for CBD workers and visitors.
Staff eventually found his body in bushes near the station entrance on December 7, around a week after his death and after 100,000 commuters had walked past.
The body, which was discovered during the height of a heatwave, was so badly decomposed that police were initially unable to identify Mr Lama and had to contact the Nepal Embassy to request dental and fingerprint records from his relatives.
An extensive, months-long investigation by The Guardian into Mr Lama’s senseless and lonely death has shone a light on Sydney’s homelessness crisis.
‘He was just somebody who fell through all the cracks, and was obviously scared and didn’t have any support,’ St Vincent’s homelessness health service nursing unit manager Erin Longbottom told the publication.
A Nepalese national died near St James train station, a major CBD thoroughfare (pictured)
Bikram Lama’s decomposed body was found in bushes in Hyde Park near the station entrance
‘It’s like he’s an invisible person and that’s just completely devastating.’
Aussies were horrified to learn about Mr Lama’s sad and lonely death.
‘That not one person noticed a young man had died in public is a wretched and dehumanising representation of the city of Sydney and its people,’ one wrote online.
Another added: ‘We should all feel ashamed, especially our politicians who we charge with caring for everyone living in Australia.
Australian Greens Senator for SA Barbara Pocock weighed in with calls for more government intervention.
‘No one should have to suffer the indignity & injustice of neglect,’ she said.
‘Direct and increased government funding in public housing provides a greater safety net for those who don’t have access to other pathways to housing.
‘Robust homelessness support services are essential for looking after people who have no where else to go.’
The City of Sydney estimates roughly one in five rough sleepers in the CBD are non-citizens. Pictured are rough sleepers in Martin Place (pictured, people sleeping rough in Sydney)
One Sydneysider recalled recently coming across a homeless Indigenous woman beside an Opera House exit.
‘The woman was probably there before the sun came up and thousands of pedestrians have probably walked past her in broad daylight before I noticed her,’ she wrote on Reddit.
‘I ended up calling an ambulance for her because she was clearly dehydrated and in desperate need of medical attention.
‘That was the day I realised that people in Sydney can be that heartless. The idea of the Good Samaritan is as good as dead in this country.’
Others called for a fundraiser to be set up so Mr Lama’s body could be returned to his grieving family in Nepal.
‘Nobody deserves to have gone through this,’ another wrote. ‘We as Australians can do the least by supporting and ensuring that this person’s remains can be sent back to his family in Nepal and they get some peace and closure.’
People born overseas accounted for almost half (46 per cent) of Australia’s homeless population in the 2021 Census, despite representing 28 per cent of the population.
A government count in February 2025 recorded 346 rough sleepers in the City of Sydney local government area – a 24 per cent increase on the previous year.
It’s estimated roughly one in five rough sleepers in the CBD are non-citizens.
